Nature Cure - Mahatma Gandhi
Nature Cure - Mahatma Gandhi
Nature Cure - Mahatma Gandhi
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Written by : M. K. <strong>Gandhi</strong><br />
Edited by : Bharatan Kumarappa<br />
Foreword by : Morarji Desai<br />
Printed & Published by :<br />
Jitendra T Desai<br />
Navajivan Mudranalaya<br />
Ahmedabad 380 014 (INDIA)
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
FOREWORD<br />
<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji had a passion to tend the sick and serve the poor. He valued life close<br />
to nature for its simplicity and evolved and practised simple rule's of health. He<br />
had almost a religious faith in vegetarianism which led him to carry out dietetic<br />
reform based on pragmatic results obtained from personal experiments. He was<br />
tremendously influenced by the writings of Dr. Kuhne on <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. He<br />
believed that human body, mind and spirit could be maintained in a state of<br />
perfect health by observance of simple rules. He attempted to discover causes<br />
of ordinary ill health and improvised simple remedies of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. He<br />
established a <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> Centre at Uruli in pursuance of his belief that the<br />
poor could not afford costly medicines and remedies and that he owed it to<br />
them to let them have the benefit of his lifelong experiments in Health and<br />
Hygiene.<br />
The human body is a wonderful and perfect machine. If it gets out of order, it<br />
can set itself right without medicine, provided it is given a chance to adjust<br />
itself. If we are not abstemious in our habits of food etc. or if our mind is<br />
agitated by passion, emotion or anxiety, the body cannot eliminate all the<br />
refuse and that part which remains uneliminated turns into toxins whose<br />
presence gives rise to symptoms which we call disease. Disease is an attempt of<br />
the body to get rid of toxins. If the body is helped in the process of elimination<br />
by fasting, cleansing of the bowels by enemas, baths and massages, the body<br />
could be restored to its normal health. This is in brief what <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji meant by<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>.<br />
This book contains a valuable collection of <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's thoughts on <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
etc. and is indeed as rich in its information as it is constructive in its outlook. I<br />
commend this book for serious study by all those who are interested in cure of<br />
ailments through natural remedies.<br />
30th November, 1954<br />
Morarji Desai<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 2
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
EDITOR'S NOTE<br />
<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji had very early in life lost faith in modern medicine. He was convinced<br />
that for good health all that was necessary was to live according to the laws of<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> in regard to diet, fresh air, exercise, clean surroundings and a pure<br />
heart. Instead of this, man was tempted by modern medical knowledge to<br />
indulge himself to his heart's content, break every law of health and morality<br />
and then seek a cure through commercialized drugs. In revolt from this<br />
<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji sought to discover for himself a sane way of overcoming disease without<br />
the use of medicines.<br />
Besides, medicine tends to treat disease as merely a matter concerning the<br />
body. But <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji viewing man as a whole finds that disease of the body is<br />
chiefly due to mental or spiritual causes and can be permanently cured only<br />
when man's entire attitude to life is changed. The cure of bodily disease must<br />
therefore, according to him, be sought primarily in the realm of the spirit, in<br />
self-discipline and self-mastery through brahmacharya, in a thoughtful<br />
observance of the laws of <strong>Nature</strong> in regard to health, and in bringing about a<br />
physical and social environment conducive to the development of a sound body<br />
and a sound mind. <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's conception of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is therefore much<br />
wider than what is generally understood by that term. It is not merely a cure of<br />
disease after it has occurred but an attempt to prevent disease altogether by<br />
living according to the laws of <strong>Nature</strong> which, according to him, are the same as<br />
the laws of God. Accordingly it involves not only the use of earth, water, air,<br />
sunlight, fasts and such like to cure disease, but even more a transformation of<br />
one's entire life —physical, mental, moral and social — through Ramanama or<br />
faith in God, alias His Law. Rama- nama is not, therefore, for him mere magic<br />
which when uttered through the lips will work wonders of itself. It signifies, as<br />
already said, a complete change in the heart and mode of life of the individual,<br />
whereby the individual comes to be in tune with the infinite and so obtains<br />
never-failing disease- conquering life and strength from the Source of all life.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 3
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
In arranging <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's writings under chapters, it seemed well not to interrupt<br />
the thought by giving the titles of articles. Not all the articles or speeches are<br />
given in full, as repetitions had to be omitted.<br />
Extracts from <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's weeklies —the Young India and the Harijan have dates<br />
affixed to them. So far as the other extracts go, they are from Hind Swaraj,<br />
written in 1908, Autobiography, written in 1925 and on, and Key to Health,<br />
written in jail during 1942 to 1944.<br />
Extracts from his letters to workers at the Uruli Kanchan <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> Clinic and<br />
information about that Centre have been given in the form of Appendices. The<br />
letters were translated by Shri A.L.Mazumdar from the original Gujarati.<br />
Those desirous of pursuing further <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's ideas in regard to health should<br />
supplement this book by reading his Key to Health and Diet and Diet Reform.<br />
Bombay, August, 1954<br />
Bharatan Kumarappa<br />
TO THE READER<br />
I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are<br />
interested in them that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be<br />
consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas and learnt<br />
many new things. Old as I am in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to<br />
grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh. What I<br />
am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from<br />
moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody finds any inconsistency<br />
between any two writings of mine, if he has still faith in my sanity, he would do<br />
well to choose the later of the two on the same subject.<br />
M. K. <strong>Gandhi</strong><br />
Harijan., 29-4-1933 p. 2<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 4
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
I<br />
INTRODUCTORY<br />
Doctors have almost unhinged us. Sometimes I think that quacks are better than<br />
highly qualified doctors. Let us consider: The business of a doctor is to take<br />
care of the body, or, properly speaking, not even that. Their business is really<br />
to rid the body of diseases that may afflict it. How do these diseases arise<br />
Surely by our negligence or indulgence. I overeat, I have indigestion, I go to a<br />
doctor, he gives me medicine, I am cured. I overeat again, I take his pills again.<br />
Had I not taken the pills in the first instance, I would have suffered the<br />
punishment deserved by me and I would not have overeaten again. The doctor<br />
intervened and helped me to indulge myself. My body thereby certainly felt<br />
more at ease; but my mind became weakened. A continuance of a course of<br />
medicine must, therefore, result in loss of control over the mind.<br />
I have indulged in vice, I contract a disease, a doctor cures me, the odds are<br />
that I shall repeat the vice. Had the doctor not intervened, <strong>Nature</strong> would have<br />
done its work, and I would have acquired mastery over myself, would have<br />
been freed from vice and would have become happy.<br />
Hospitals are institutions for propagating sin. Men take less care of their bodies<br />
and immorality increases. European doctors are the worst of all. For the sake of<br />
a mistaken care of the human body, they kill annually thousands of animals.<br />
They practise vivisection. No religion sanctions this. All say that it is not<br />
necessary to take so many lives for the sake of our bodies.<br />
These doctors violate our religious instinct. Most of their medical preparations<br />
contain either animal fat or spirituous liquors; both of these are tabooed by<br />
Hindus and Mahomedans. We may pretend to be civilized, call religious prohibitions<br />
a superstition and wantonly indulge in what we like. The fact remains<br />
that doctors induce us to indulge, and the result is that we have become<br />
deprived of self-control and have become effeminate. In these circumstances,<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 5
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
we are unfit to serve the country. To study European medicine is to deepen our<br />
slavery.<br />
It is worth considering why we take up the profession of medicine. It is<br />
certainly not for the purpose of serving humanity. We become doctors so that<br />
we may obtain honours and riches. I have endeavoured to show that there is no<br />
real service of humanity in the profession, and that it is injurious to mankind.<br />
Doctors make a show of their knowledge, and charge exorbitant fees. Their<br />
preparations, which are intrinsically worth a few pence, cost shillings. The<br />
populace, in its credulity and in the hope of ridding itself of some disease,<br />
allows itself to be cheated. Are not quacks then, whom we know, better than<br />
the doctors who put on an air of humaneness<br />
Hind Swaraj, 1946, pp. 42 & 43<br />
If I had acquired perfect mastery over my thoughts, I should not have suffered<br />
from pleurisy, dysentery and appendicitis as I have during the last ten years.* I<br />
believe that when the soul is sinless, the body which she inhabits is healthy too.<br />
That is to say, as the soul progresses towards freedom from sin, the body also<br />
tends to become immune from disease. But a healthy body, in this case, does<br />
not mean a strong body. A powerful soul lives only in a weak body. As the soul<br />
advances in strength, the body languishes. A perfectly healthy body might yet<br />
be quite emaciated. A strong body is often diseased. Even if there be no<br />
disease, such a body catches infection soon, while a perfectly healthy body<br />
enjoys complete immunity from it. Pure blood has the power of expelling all<br />
obnoxious germs.<br />
Navajivan, 25-5-'24<br />
Maintenance of perfect health should be considered almost an utter<br />
impossibility without brahmacharya leading to the conservation of the sexual<br />
secretions. To countenance wastage of a secretion which has the power of<br />
creating another human being is, to say the least, an indication of gross ignorance.<br />
A firm grasp of the fact that semen is meant to be used only for<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 6
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
procreation and not for self-indulgence, leaves no room whatsoever for<br />
indulging in animal passion. Assimilation of the knowledge that the vital fluid is<br />
never meant for waste should restrain men and women from becoming crazy<br />
over sexual intercourse. It will never be resorted to in order to satisfy passion<br />
without the desire for a child. After intercourse which has been performed as a<br />
matter of duty, the desire to repeat the process should never arise.<br />
The sexual glands are all the time secreting the semen. This secretion should<br />
be utilized for enhancing one's mental, physical and spiritual energy. He, who<br />
would learn to utilize it thus, will find that he requires very little food to keep<br />
his body in a fit condition. And yet he will be as capable as any of undertaking<br />
physical labour. Mental exertion will not tire him easily nor will he show the<br />
ordinary signs of old age. Just as a ripe fruit or an old leaf falls off naturally, so<br />
will such a brahmachari when his time comes pass away with all his faculties<br />
intact. Although with the passage of time the effects of the natural wear and<br />
tear must be manifest in his body, his intellect instead of showing signs of<br />
decay should show progressive clarity. If all this is correct, the real key to<br />
health lies in the conservation of vital energy.<br />
Key to Health, 1948, pp. 46 to 49<br />
The <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> man does not 'sell a cure' to the patient. He teaches him the<br />
right way of living in his home, which would not only cure him of his particular<br />
ailment but also save him from falling ill in future. The ordinary doctor or<br />
vaidya is interested mostly in the study of disease. The <strong>Nature</strong> Curist is<br />
interested more in the study of health. His real interest begins where that of<br />
the ordinary doctor ends; the eradication of the patient's ailment under <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong> marks only the beginning of a way of life in which there is no room for<br />
illness or disease. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is thus a way of life, not a course of 'treatment'.<br />
It is not claimed that <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> can cure all disease. No system of medicine<br />
can do that or else we should all be immortals.<br />
Harijan, 7-4-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 7
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
*I am a humble aspirant for perfection. I know my way to it also. But knowing the way is<br />
not reaching its end. If I was perfect, if I had acquired full control over all my passions<br />
even in thought, I should be perfect in body I am free to confess that daily I am obliged to<br />
expend a great amount of mental energy in acquiring control over my thoughts. When I<br />
have succeeded if I ever do, think what a store-house of energy would be set free for<br />
service! As 1 hold that appendicitis was a result of infirmity of thought or mind, so do I<br />
concede that my submission to the surgical operation was an additional infirmity of mind.<br />
If I was absolutely free of egoism, I would have resigned myself to the inevitable; but I<br />
wanted to live in the present body. Complete detachment is not a mechanical process.<br />
One has to grow into it by patient toil and prayer.<br />
Young India, 3-4-'24<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 8
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
II<br />
NATURE CURE TREATMENT<br />
The science of natural therapeutics is based on a use of the same five<br />
elements, in the treatment of disease, which constitute the human body. These<br />
are earth, water, ether, sunlight and air. It is my effort to point out how they<br />
can be utilized for-health purposes.<br />
Up till the year 1901, although I did not rush to the doctors whenever I<br />
happened to get ill, I did use their remedies to a certain extent. I used to take<br />
fruit salt for constipation. The late Dr. Pranjivan Mehta who had come to Natal<br />
introduced me to certain drugs to remove general lassitude. This led me to<br />
read literature on the uses of drugs. Add to this a little more knowledge I<br />
gained by a certain amount of work I had put in at a cottage hospital in Natal.<br />
This enabled me to carry on for some time, but none of the drugs did me any<br />
good in the end. Headaches and loss of a sense of general wellbeing persisted. I<br />
was very dissatisfied with this state of things and what little faith I had in<br />
medicines began to fade.<br />
All through this interval my experiments in dietetics were continued. I had<br />
great faith in <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> methods, but there was nobody to help me with<br />
practical guidance in their use. With the help of whatever knowledge I could<br />
gather by reading a little of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> literature, I tried to treat myself by<br />
diet regulation. My habit of going out for long walks also stood me in good<br />
stead, and thanks to that habit I did not have actually to take to bed. While I<br />
was thus managing to keep going somehow, Mr. Polak handed me Just's book,<br />
called Return to <strong>Nature</strong>.<br />
Key to Health, pp. 57 & 58<br />
1. EARTH<br />
Just lays great emphasis on the use of earth. For constipation, he advises cold<br />
mud poultice on the lower abdomen. The mud poultice should be 3" broad, 6"<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 9
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
long and ½" thick. Just claims that mud can cure a man bitten by a poisonous<br />
snake. He would pack wet earth all round the body. I mention this for what it is<br />
worth. I would like to put down here what I have tested and proved for myself.<br />
It is my experience that a mud poultice applied to the head, relieves headache<br />
in most cases. I have tried it in hundreds of cases. Headache may be due to<br />
several causes, but whatever the cause, as a general rule, an application of<br />
mud poultice relieves it for the time being.<br />
Mud poultices cure ordinary boils. I have applied mud to discharging abscesses<br />
as well. For these cases I prepare the poultice by packing the mud in a clean<br />
piece of cloth dipped in potassium permanganate lotion, and apply it to the<br />
abscesses after washing it clean with permanganate lotion. In the majority of<br />
cases this treatment results in complete cure. I do not remember a single case<br />
in which it has failed me. Mud application immediately relieves the pain of a<br />
wasp sting. I have used it in many cases of scorpion bite, though with much less<br />
success. Scorpions have become a nuisance in Sevagram. We have tried all the<br />
known treatments for scorpion bite, but none has proved infallible. I can say<br />
this that the results of mud application are not inferior to those of any other<br />
form of treatment.<br />
In high fever, an application of mud poultice on the head and abdomen is very<br />
useful. Although it does not always bring down the temperature, it does<br />
invariably soothe the patient and make him feel better, so that the patients<br />
themselves ask for these applications. I have used it in several cases of typhoid<br />
fever. The-fever no doubt runs its own course but mud applications seem to<br />
relieve restlessness and abate the suffering. We have had about ten cases of<br />
typhoid fever in Sevagram with complete recovery in every case, so that the<br />
inmates of the Ashram are no longer afraid of typhoid fever. I have not used<br />
any drugs in the treatment of these cases. I have made use of other <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong> methods besides mud poultices, but about those in their own place.<br />
In Sevagram we have made free use of hot mud poultices as a substitute for<br />
anti-phlogistine. A little oil and salt is added to the mud and it is heated<br />
sufficiently long to ensure sterilization.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 10
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
I have not told the reader what kind of earth should be used for mud poultices.<br />
In the beginning I used to procure sweet smelling clean red earth. It emits a<br />
delicate smell when it is mixed with water. But this kind of earth is not easy to<br />
obtain. In a city like Bombay it is a problem to get any kind of earth. It is safe<br />
to use soft alluvial clay, which is neither gritty nor sticky. One should never use<br />
earth taken from manured soil. Earth should be dried, pounded, and passed<br />
through a fine sieve. If there is any doubt as to its cleanliness, it should be well<br />
heated and thus sterilized. Mud used as a poultice on a clean surface need not<br />
be thrown away after use. It can be used again and again after drying it in the<br />
sun or on fire and pounding and sieving it. I am not aware that mud poultice<br />
made out of the same earth again and again as described above, is any the less<br />
efficacious. I have myself used it in this way and did not find it any the less<br />
efficacious for repeated use. Some friends who regularly use mud poultices, tell<br />
me that mud from Yamuna's banks is particularly good for this purpose.<br />
Just writes that clean earth may be eaten in order to overcome constipation.<br />
Five to ten grams is the maximum dose. The rationale is said to be this. Earth is<br />
not digested. It acts as roughage and must pass out. The peristalsis thus<br />
stimulated pushes out the faecal matter as well. I have not tried it myself.<br />
Therefore those who wish to do so, should try on their own responsibility. I am<br />
inclined to think that a trial or two is not likely to harm anyone.<br />
Key to Health, pp. 58 to 62<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 11
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
2. WATER<br />
Hydrotherapy is a well-known and ancient form of therapy. Many books have<br />
been written on the subject but in my opinion the form of hydrotherapy<br />
suggested by Kuhne is simple and effective. Kuhne's book on nature cure is very<br />
popular in India. It has been translated in several languages of India. Andhra<br />
has the greatest number of Kuhne's followers. He has written a good deal about<br />
diet as well, but here I wish to confine myself to his experiments in<br />
hydrotherapy.<br />
Hip bath and sitz bath are the most important of Kuhne's contributions to<br />
hydrotherapy. He has devised a special tub for use though one can do without<br />
it. Any tub thirty to thirty- six inches long according to the patient's height<br />
generally serves the purpose. Experience will indicate the proper size. The tub<br />
should be filled with fresh cold water so that it does not overflow when the<br />
patient sits in it. In summer the water may be iced, if it is not cold enough, to<br />
give a gentle shock to the patient. Generally, water kept in earthen jars<br />
overnight answers the purpose. Water can also be cooled by putting a piece of<br />
cloth on the surface of the water and then fanning it vigorously. The tub should<br />
be kept against the bathroom wall and a plank put in the tub to serve as<br />
backrest. The patient should sit in the tub keeping his feet outside. Portions of<br />
the body outside water should be kept well covered so that the patient does<br />
not feel cold. After the patient is comfortably seated in the tub, gentle friction<br />
should be applied to his abdomen, with a soft towel. This bath can be taken for<br />
five to thirty minutes. When it is over, the body should be rubbed dry and the<br />
patient put to bed.<br />
Hip bath brings down the temperature in high fever and given in the manner<br />
described above it never does any harm, and may do much good. It relieves<br />
constipation and improves digestion. The patient feels fresh and active after it.<br />
In cases of constipation, Kuhne advises a brisk walk for half an hour<br />
immediately after the bath. It should never be given on a full stomach.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 12
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
I have tried hip baths on a fairly large scale. They have proved efficacious in<br />
more than 75 cases out of 100. In cases of hyperpyrexia, if the patient's<br />
condition permits of his being seated in the tub, the temperature immediately<br />
invariably falls at least two to three degrees and the onset of delirium is<br />
averted.<br />
The rationale of hip bath, according to Kuhne is this. Whatever the apparent<br />
cause of fever, the real cause in every case is one and the same, i.e.,<br />
accumulation of waste matter in the intestines. The heat generated by the<br />
putrefaction of this waste matter is manifested in the form of fever and several<br />
other ailments. Hip bath brings down this internal fever so that fever and other<br />
ailments which are the external manifestations thereof subside automatically.<br />
How far this reasoning is correct I cannot say. The speciality of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
methods lies in the fact that being natural, they can be safely practised by<br />
laymen. If a man, suffering from headache, wets a piece of cloth in cold water<br />
and wraps it round his head, it can do no harm. The addition of earth to cold<br />
water enhances the utility of the cold pack.<br />
Now about the sitz or friction bath. The organ of reproduction is one of the<br />
most sensitive parts of the body. There is something illusive about the<br />
sensitiveness of the glans penis and the foreskin. Anyway, I know not how to<br />
describe it. Kuhne has made use of this knowledge for therapeutic purposes. He<br />
advises application of gentle friction to the outer end of the external sexual<br />
organ by means of a soft wet piece of cloth, while cold water is being poured.<br />
In the case of the male the glans penis should be covered with the foreskin<br />
before applying friction. The method advised by Kuhne is this: A stool should be<br />
placed in a tub of cold water so that the seat is just about the level of the<br />
water in the tub. The patient should sit on the stool with his feet outside the<br />
tub and apply gentle friction to the sexual organ which just touches the surface<br />
of the water in the tub. This friction should never cause pain. On the contrary<br />
the patient should find it pleasant and feel rested and peaceful at the end of<br />
the bath. Whatever the ailment, the sitz bath makes the patient feel better for<br />
the time being. Kuhne places sitz baths higher than hip baths. I have had much<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 13
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
less experience of the former than of the latter. The blame, I think, lies mostly<br />
with myself. I have been lax. Those whom I advised sitz bath, have not been<br />
patient with the experiment, so that I cannot express an opinion on the<br />
efficacy of these baths, based on personal experience. It is worth a trial by<br />
everyone. If there is any difficulty about finding a tub, it is possible to pour<br />
water from a jug or a lota and take the friction bath. It is bound to make the<br />
patient feel rested and peaceful.<br />
A few words about wet sheet packs will not be out of place. It is very useful in<br />
pyrexia and insomnia. The method of giving wet sheet packs is this. Spread<br />
three or four thick broad woollen blankets on a cot and on top of them a thick<br />
cotton sheet dipped in cold water with the water wrung out. The patient lies<br />
flat on the wet sheet with his head resting on a pillow outside the sheet. The<br />
wet sheet and the blankets are wrapped round the patient covering the whole<br />
body except the head which is covered with a damp towel treated after the<br />
manner of the wet sheet. The sheet and the blankets are wrapped round the<br />
patient, so that outside air cannot get inside. Though the patient feels a gentle<br />
shock when first laid in the wet sheet pack, he finds it pleasant afterwards. In a<br />
minute or two he begins to feel warm, unless the fever has become chronic, in<br />
about five minutes it begins to come down with sweating. In resistant cases I<br />
have kept the patient wrapped in the wet sheet pack up to half an hour. This<br />
has finally resulted in sweating. Sometimes, there is no sweating, but the<br />
patient goes off to sleep. In that case, he should not be awakened. The sleep<br />
indicates that the wet sheet pack has produced a soothing effect and he is<br />
quite comfortable. The temperature invariably falls at least by one or two<br />
degrees as a result of the wet sheet pack.<br />
Wet sheet packs are also useful in the treatment of prickly heat, urticaria,<br />
other forms of skin irritation, measles, smallpox etc. I have tried them on a<br />
fairly large scale for these ailments. For smallpox and measles cases, I added<br />
enough potassium permanganate to the water to give it a light pink colour. The<br />
sheet used for these patients, should afterwards be sterilized by soaking it in<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 14
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
boiling water and leaving it in it till it cools down sufficiently and then washed<br />
with soap and water<br />
In cases where circulation has become sluggish, the leg muscles feel sore and<br />
there is peculiar ache and feeling of discomfort in the legs, and ice massage<br />
does a lot of good. This treatment is more effective in summer months. Massaging<br />
a weak patient with ice in winter might prove a risky affair.<br />
Now a few words about the therapeutics of hot water. An intelligent use of hot<br />
water gives relief in many cases. Application of iodine is a very popular remedy<br />
for all sorts of injuries and the like. Application of hot water will prove equally<br />
effective in most of these cases. Tincture of iodine is applied on swollen and<br />
bruised areas. Hot water fomentations are likely to give equal relief, if not<br />
more. Again, iodine drops are used in cases of earache. Irrigation of the ear<br />
with warm water is likely to relieve the pain in most of these cases. The use of<br />
iodine is attended with certain risks. The patient may have an idiosyncracy<br />
towards the drug. Iodine mistaken for something else and taken internally<br />
might prove disastrous. But there is no risk whatsoever in using hot water<br />
Boiling water is as good a disinfectant as tincture of iodine. I do not mean to<br />
belittle the usefulness of iodine or suggest that hot water can replace it in all<br />
cases. Iodine is one of the few drugs which I regard most useful and necessary,<br />
but it is an expensive thing. The poor cannot afford to buy it and moreover its<br />
use cannot be safely entrusted to everybody. But water is available<br />
everywhere. We may not despise its therapeutic value because it is obtained so<br />
easily. Knowledge of common household remedies often proves a godsend in<br />
many a crisis.<br />
In cases of scorpion bite where all remedies have failed, immersion of the part<br />
in hot water has been found to relieve the pain to a certain extent.<br />
A shivering fit or a rigor can be made to subside by putting buckets of hot<br />
boiling water all round the patient who is well wrapped up or by saturating the<br />
atmosphere of the room with steam by some other device. A rubber hot water<br />
bag is a most useful thing, but it is not to be found in every household. A glass<br />
bottle with a well fitting cork, filled with hot water and wrapped in a piece of<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 15
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
cloth, serves the same purpose. Care should be taken to choose bottles that<br />
would not crack on hot water being poured into them.<br />
Steam is a more valuable therapeutic agent. It can be used to make the patient<br />
sweat. Steam baths are most useful in cases of rheumatism and other jointpains.<br />
The easiest as well as the oldest method of taking steam bath is this.<br />
Spread a blanket or two on a sparsely but tightly woven cot and put one or two<br />
covered vessels full with boiling water under it. Make the patient lie flat on the<br />
cot and cover him up in such a way that the ends of the covering blankets touch<br />
the ground and thus prevent the steam from escaping and the outside air from<br />
getting in. After arranging everything as above, the lid from the vessels<br />
containing boiling water is removed and steam soon gets on to the patient lying<br />
between the blankets. It may be necessary to change the water once or twice.<br />
Usually in India people keep an angithi under the pots to keep the water<br />
boiling. This ensures continuous discharge of steam but is attended with risk of<br />
accidents. A single spark might set fire to the blankets or to the cot and<br />
endanger the patient's life. Therefore, it is advisable to use the method<br />
described by me even though it might seem slow and tedious.<br />
Some people add neem leaves or other herbs to the water used for generating<br />
steam. I do not know if such an addition increases the efficiency of steam. The<br />
object is to induce sweat and that is attained by mere steam.<br />
In cases of cold feet or aching of the legs, the patient should be made to sit<br />
with his feet and legs immersed up to the knees in as hot water as he can bear.<br />
A little mustard powder can be added to the water. The foot bath should not<br />
last for more than fifteen minutes. This treatment improves the local<br />
circulation and gives immediate relief.<br />
In cases of common cold and sore throat a steam kettle which is very much like<br />
an ordinary tea kettle with a long nozzle can be used for applying steam to the<br />
nose or throat. A rubber tube of required length can be attached to any<br />
ordinary kettle for this purpose.<br />
Key to Health, pp. 63 to 75<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 16
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
3. AKASH (ETHER)<br />
Akash is a difficult word to translate as are indeed all the other four elements<br />
so-called. For pant is not mere water in the original, nor vayu wind, or prithvi<br />
earth, or teja light. Akash is ether least of all. Perhaps the nearest equivalent<br />
is emptiness taken in its literal sense. And it is horribly inexpressive of the<br />
original. All the five in the original are as living as life. It, however, we take<br />
ether as the nearest equivalent for akash, we must say that we know very little<br />
about ether itself and akash much less. Our knowledge of its therapeutic uses is<br />
still more limited. Akash might be taken for the empty space surrounding the<br />
earth and the atmosphere round it. On a clear day, on looking up, one sees a<br />
beautiful mauve blue canopy which is known as the akash or sky. So far as we<br />
are concerned, this sky or the ether is limitless. We are surrounded by it on<br />
every side, and there is no nook or corner without it. Generally we imagine that<br />
the sky is something resting upon the high — it is the blue canopy above us. But<br />
the sky is as much above us as below and all round us. We move round and<br />
round with the earth. Therefore the akash is round and everybody is within it.<br />
It is an envelope whose outermost surface is measureless. The lower strata of<br />
the akash for a number of miles are filled with air. But for this man would<br />
become suffocated in spite of the emptiness. True, we cannot see the air but<br />
we can feel it when in motion. Sky or the ether is the abode of atmosphere.<br />
One can pump out air, say from an empty bottle and create a vacuum, but who<br />
can pump out the vacuum itself That is akash.<br />
This akash we have to make use of to maintain or to regain health. Air being<br />
most essential to sustain life, <strong>Nature</strong> has made it omnipresent. But the<br />
omnipresence of air is only relative. It is not limitless in reality. Scientists tell<br />
us that after a certain number of miles above the earth there is no air. It is said<br />
that earthly creatures cannot exist outside this atmosphere. This statement<br />
may or may not be true. All that we are concerned with here is that akash<br />
extends beyond the atmosphere. Some day the scientists might prove that what<br />
we call ether is also something which fills the empty space —akash. Then we<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 17
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
will have to discover a new name for the empty space that holds neither air nor<br />
the ether. Be that as it may, the mystery of this empty space all around us is<br />
most intriguing. We cannot solve it unless we can solve the mystery of God<br />
himself. This much might be said that the more we utilize this great element<br />
akash the healthier we will be. The first lesson to be learnt is this, that we<br />
should not put any partition between ourselves and the sky —the infinite—which<br />
is very near and very far away. If our bodies could be in contact with the sky<br />
without the intervention of houses, roofs and even clothes, we are likely to<br />
enjoy the maximum amount of health. This is not possible for everyone. But all<br />
can and should accept the validity of the statement and adapt life accordingly.<br />
To the extent that we are able to approach the state in practice, we will enjoy<br />
contentment and peace of mind.<br />
This train of thought will make the thinker keep his surroundings as open as<br />
possible. He will not fill the house with unnecessary furniture and will use the<br />
minimum of clothes that are necessary. Many households are so packed with all<br />
sorts of unnecessary decorations and furniture which one can very well do<br />
without, that a simple living man will feel suffocated in those surroundings.<br />
They are nothing but means of harbouring dust, bacteria and insects.<br />
My desire to be in tune with the infinite has saved me from many<br />
complications in life. It led not merely to simplicity of household and dress but<br />
all round simplicity in the mode of my life. In a nutshell, and in the language of<br />
the subject under discussion I have gone on creating more and more contact<br />
with akash. With the increase in the contact went improvement in health. I had<br />
more contentment and peace of mind and the desire for belongings almost<br />
disappeared. He who will establish contact with the infinite possesses nothing<br />
and yet possesses everything. In the ultimate analysis, man owns that, of which<br />
he can make legitimate use and which he can assimilate. If everybody followed<br />
this rule, there would be room enough for all and there would be neither want<br />
nor overcrowding.<br />
It follows that one should make it a point to sleep in the open. Sufficient<br />
covering should be used to protect oneself against the inclemencies of the<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 18
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
weather—against cold and dew. In rainy season an umbrella-like roof without<br />
walls should be used for keeping the rain out. For the rest, the starlit blue<br />
canopy should form the roof, so that whenever one opens one's eyes, he or she<br />
can feast them on the ever- changing beautiful panorama of the heavens. He<br />
will never tire of the scene and it will not dazzle or hurt his eyes. On the<br />
contrary, it will have a soothing effect on him. To watch the different starry<br />
constellations floating in their majesty is a feast for the eyes. One who<br />
establishes contact with the stars as living witnesses to all his thoughts will<br />
never allow any evil or impurity to enter his mind and will enjoy peaceful,<br />
refreshing sleep.<br />
Let us descend from the akash above to the akash within and immediately<br />
about us. Thus the skin has millions of pores. If we fill up the empty space<br />
within these pores, we simply die. Any clogging of the pores therefore must<br />
interfere with the even flow of health. Similarly we must not fill up the<br />
digestive tract with unnecessary foodstuffs. We should eat only as much as we<br />
need and no more. Often one overeats or eats indigestible things without being<br />
aware of it. An occasional fast, say once a week or once a fortnight, will enable<br />
one to keep the balance even. If one is unable to fast for the whole day, one<br />
should miss one or more meals during the day. That <strong>Nature</strong> abhors a vacuum is<br />
only partially true. <strong>Nature</strong> constantly demands a vacuum. The vast space<br />
surrounding us is the standing testimony of the truth.<br />
Key to Health, pp. 75 to 81<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 19
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
4. SUNLIGHT<br />
As in the case of the other elements, which have been already dealt with, man<br />
cannot do without sunlight. The sun is the source of light and heat. If there was<br />
no sun, there would be neither light nor warmth. Unfortunately we do not<br />
make full use of sunlight and consequently we are unable to enjoy perfect<br />
health. Sun-bath is as useful as ordinary water-bath though the two cannot<br />
replace one another. In cases of debility and slow circulation, exposure of the<br />
uncovered body to the morning sun acts as an all-round general tonic and<br />
accelerates the metabolism. The morning sun has the largest amount of ultraviolet<br />
rays which are a most effective component of the sun's rays. If the<br />
patient feels cold, he should lie in the sun covered up and gradually expose<br />
more and more of his body as he gets used to it. One can also take the sun-bath<br />
pacing up and down in the sun without any clothes on, in a private enclosure or<br />
in any other place away from the public gaze. If such place is not within easy<br />
reach, one can just cover up the private parts by tying a piece of cloth or a<br />
langoti and expose the rest of the body to the sun.<br />
I know of many persons who have been benefited by sun-baths. It is a wellknown<br />
treatment for tuberculosis. Sun-baths or helio-therapy is no longer<br />
confined to the sphere of naturopathy. Orthodox medicine has taken it up from<br />
naturopathy and developed it further. In cold countries, special glass buildings<br />
have been constructed under medical supervision, so that the glass lets in the<br />
sun's rays and at the same time protects patients against the cold. Suntreatment<br />
often results in the cure of intractable ulcers. To produce sweating, I<br />
have made the patients lie in the sun at about 11 a.m., i.e. a little before<br />
midday. The experiment has been successful and the patients are soon bathed<br />
in sweat. In these cases the head should be protected from the sun by means of<br />
a cold mud poultice. Banana or any other leaves can be used to cover up the<br />
head and face, and thus further help in keeping the head cool and well<br />
protected. The head should never be exposed to strong sunlight.<br />
Key to Health, pp. 81 to 83<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 20
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
5. AIR<br />
This fifth element is as important as the four already discussed in the foregoing<br />
pages. The human body which is composed of the five elements cannot do<br />
without any one of them. Therefore no one should be afraid of air. Generally,<br />
wherever our people go, they make devices to keep out the sun and the air and<br />
thus jeopardize their health. If one cultivates the habit of living in the open in<br />
the midst of plenty of fresh air, right from childhood; the body will become<br />
hardened and he or she will never suffer from cold in the head and the like<br />
ailments.<br />
Key to Health, p. 83<br />
Q. It has been said that <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> can be applied to every disease. If so,<br />
can it cure short or long-sightedness, cataract and other eye diseases Can one<br />
avoid spectacles Can hernia, tonsils etc. which need the surgeon's knife be<br />
cured by <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
A. I know that the claim attributed to <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> has been made by its<br />
exponents. I do not count myself among them. This much, however, can be<br />
safely claimed. Disease springs from a wilful or ignorant breach of the laws of<br />
<strong>Nature</strong>. It follows, therefore, that timely return to those laws should mean<br />
restoration. A person who has tried <strong>Nature</strong> beyond endurance, must either<br />
suffer the punishment inflicted by <strong>Nature</strong> or in order to avoid it, seek the<br />
assistance of the physician or the surgeon as the case may be. Every submission<br />
to merited punishment strengthens the mind of man, every avoidance saps it.<br />
Harijan, l5-9-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 21
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
III<br />
NATURE CURE EXPERIMENTS<br />
I. FAITH ON ITS TRIAL<br />
My second son, Manilal, who had already been through an acute attack of<br />
smallpox some years back, had a severe attack of typhoid, combined with<br />
pneumonia and signs of delirium at night.<br />
The doctor was called in. He said medicine would have little effect, but eggs<br />
and chicken broth might be given with profit. Manilal was only ten years old. To<br />
consult his wishes was out of the question. Being his guardian I had to decide.<br />
The doctor was a very good Parsi. I told him that we were all vegetarians and<br />
that I could not possibly give either of the two things to my son.<br />
I knew Kuhne's treatment and had tried it too. I knew as well that fasting also<br />
could be tried with profit. So I began to give Manilal hip baths according to<br />
Kuhne, never keeping him in the tub for more than three minutes, and kept him<br />
on orange juice mixed with water for three days.<br />
But the temperature persisted, going up to 104°. At night he would be<br />
delirious. I began to get anxious. What would people say of me What would my<br />
elder brother think of me Could we not call in another doctor Why not have<br />
an Ayurvedic physician What right had the parents to inflict their fads on their<br />
children<br />
I was haunted by thoughts like these. Then a contrary current would start. God<br />
would surely be pleased to see that I was giving the same treatment to my son<br />
as I would give myself. I had faith in hydropathy and little faith in allopathy.<br />
The doctors could not guarantee recovery. At best they could experiment. The<br />
thread of life was in the hands of God. Why not trust it to Him and in His name<br />
go on with what I thought was the right treatment<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 22
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
My mind was torn between these conflicting thoughts. It was night. I was in<br />
Manilal's bed lying by his side. I decided to give him a wet sheet pack. I got up,<br />
wetted a sheet, wrung the water out of it and wrapped it about Manilal,<br />
keeping only his head out and then covered him with two blankets. To the head<br />
I applied a wet towel. The whole body was burning like hot iron, and quite<br />
parched. There was absolutely no perspiration.<br />
I was sorely tired. I left Manilal in the charge of his mother, and went out for a<br />
walk on Chaupati to refresh myself. It was about ten o'clock. Very few<br />
pedestrians were out. Plunged in deep thought, I scarcely looked at them. 'My<br />
honour is in Thy keeping, Oh Lord, in this hour of trial', I repeated to myself.<br />
Ramanama was on my lips. After a short time I returned, my heart beating<br />
within my breast.<br />
No sooner I entered the room than Manilal said, 'You have returned, Bapu'<br />
'Yes darling.'<br />
'Do please pull me out. I am burning.'<br />
'Are you perspiring, my boy'<br />
'I am simply soaked, do please take me out.'<br />
I felt his forehead. It was covered with beads of perspiration. The temperature<br />
was going down. I thanked God.<br />
'Manilal, your fever is sure to go now. A little more perspiration and then I will<br />
take you out.'<br />
'Pray, no. Do deliver me from this furnace. Wrap me some other time if you<br />
like.'<br />
I just managed to keep him under the pack for a few minutes more by diverting<br />
him. The perspiration streamed down his forehead. I undid the pack and dried<br />
his body Father and son fell asleep in the same bed.<br />
And each slept like a log. Next morning Manilal had much less fever. He went<br />
on thus for forty days on diluted milk and fruit juices. I had no fear now. It was<br />
an obstinate type of fever, but it had been got under control.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 23
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Today Manilal is the healthiest of my boys. Who can say whether his recovery<br />
was due to God's grace, or to hydropathy, or to careful dietary and nursing<br />
Let everyone decide according to his own faith. For my part I was sure that God<br />
had saved my honour, and that belief remains unaltered to this day.<br />
Autobiography, 1948, pp. 302 to 305<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 24
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
2. EXPERIMENTS IN EARTH AND WATER TREATMENT<br />
With the growing simplicity of my life, my dislike for medicines steadily<br />
increased. While practising in Durban, I suffered for some time from debility<br />
and rheumatic inflammation. Dr. P.J.Mehta, who had come to see me, gave me<br />
treatment, and I got well. After that, up to the time when I returned to India, I<br />
do not remember having suffered from any ailment to speak of.<br />
But I used to be troubled with constipation and frequent headaches, while at<br />
Johannesburg. I kept myself fit with occasional laxatives and a well-regulated<br />
diet. But I could hardly call myself healthy, and always wondered when I should<br />
get free from the incubus of these laxative medicines.<br />
About this time I read of the formation of a 'No Breakfast Association' in<br />
Manchester. The argument of the promoters was that Englishmen ate too often<br />
and too much, that their doctors' bills were heavy because they ate until<br />
midnight, and that they should at least give up breakfast, if they wanted to<br />
improve this state of affairs. Though all these things could not be said of me, I<br />
felt that the argument did partly apply in my case. I used to have three square<br />
meals daily in addition to afternoon tea. I was never a spare eater and enjoyed<br />
as many delicacies as could be had with a vegetarian and spiceless diet. I<br />
scarcely ever got up before six or seven. I therefore argued that, if I also<br />
dropped the morning breakfast, I might become free from headaches. So I tried<br />
the experiment. For a few days it was rather hard, but the headaches entirely<br />
disappeared. This led me to conclude that I was eating more than I needed.<br />
But the change was far from relieving me of constipation. I tried Kuhne's hip<br />
baths, which gave some relief but did not completely cure me. In the meantime<br />
the German who had a vegetarian restaurant, or some other friend, I forget<br />
who, placed in my hands Just s Return to <strong>Nature</strong>. In his book I read about earth<br />
treatment. The author also advocated fresh fruit and nuts as the natural diet of<br />
man. I did not at once take to the exclusive fruit diet, but immediately began<br />
experiments in earth treatment, and with wonderful results. The treatment<br />
consisted in applying to the abdomen a bandage of clean earth moistened with<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 25
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
cold water and spread like a poultice on fine linen. This I applied at bedtime,<br />
removing it during the night or in the morning, whenever I happened to wake<br />
up. It proved a radical cure. Since then I have tried the treatment on myself<br />
and my friends and never had reason to regret it. In India I have not been able<br />
to try this treatment with equal confidence. For one thing, I have never had<br />
time to settle down in one place to conduct the experiments. But my faith in<br />
earth and water treatment remains practically the same as before. Even today I<br />
give myself the earth treatment to a certain extent and recommend it to my<br />
co-workers, whenever occasion arises.<br />
Though I have had two serious illnesses in my life, I believe that man has little<br />
need to drug himself. 999 cases out of a thousand can be brought round by<br />
means of a well-regulated diet, water and earth treatment and similar<br />
household remedies. He who runs to the doctor,- vaidya or hakim for every<br />
little ailment, and swallows all kinds of vegetable and mineral drugs, not only<br />
curtails his life, but, by becoming the slave of his body instead of remaining its<br />
master, loses self- control, and ceases to be a man.<br />
Let no one discount these observations because they are being written in a<br />
sickbed. I know the reasons for my illness. I am fully conscious that I alone am<br />
responsible for them, and it is because of that consciousness that I have not<br />
lost patience. In fact I have thanked God for them as lessons and successfully<br />
resisted the temptation of taking numerous drugs. I know my obstinacy often<br />
tries my doctors, but they kindly bear with me and do not give me up.<br />
However, I must not digress. Before proceeding further, I should give the<br />
reader a word of warning. Those who purchase Just's book on the strength of<br />
this chapter should not take everything in it to be gospel truth. A writer almost<br />
always presents one aspect of a case, whereas every case can be seen from no<br />
less than seven points of view, all of which are probably correct by themselves,<br />
but not correct at the same time and in the same circumstances. And then<br />
many books are written with a view to gaining customers and earning name and<br />
fame. Let those, therefore, who read such books as these do so with<br />
discernment, and take advice of some experienced man before trying any of<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 26
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
the experiments set forth, or let them read the books with patience and digest<br />
them thoroughly before acting upon them.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 329 & 331<br />
3. NECESSITY OF MILK<br />
Whilst I was engaged on the recruiting campaign in Kheda, an error in diet laid<br />
me low, and I was at death's door. I tried in vain to rebuild a shattered<br />
constitution without milk. I sought the help of the doctors, vaidyas and<br />
scientists whom I knew, to recommend a substitute for milk. Some suggested<br />
mung water, some mowhra oil, some almond-milk. I wore out my body in<br />
experimenting on these, but nothing could help me to leave the sickbed.<br />
I might not take cow's or buffalo's milk, as I was bound by a vow. The vow of<br />
course meant the giving up of all milks, but as I had mother cow's and mother<br />
buffalo's only in mind when I took the vow, and as I wanted to live, I somehow<br />
beguiled myself into emphasizing the letter of the vow and decided to take<br />
goat's milk. I was fully conscious, when I started taking mother goat's milk, that<br />
the spirit of my vow was destroyed.<br />
I would therefore urge those who, on the strength of the theory propounded by<br />
me, may have given up milk, not to persist in the experiment, unless they find<br />
it beneficial in every way, or unless they are advised by experienced physicians,<br />
Up to now my experience here has shown me that for those with a weak<br />
digestion and for those who are confined to bed there is no light and nourishing<br />
diet equal to that of milk.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 333 & 334<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 27
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
4. TREATING A FRACTURED ARM<br />
On the boat bringing them (my wife and the children) to South Africa, Ramdas,<br />
my third son, broke his arm while playing with the ship's captain. The captain<br />
looked after him well and had him attended to by the ship's doctor. Ramdas<br />
landed with his hand in a sling. The doctor had advised that, as soon as we<br />
reached home, the wound should be dressed by a qualified doctor. But this was<br />
the time when I was full of faith in my experiments in earth treatment. I had<br />
even succeeded in persuading some of my clients who had faith in my quackery<br />
to try the earth and water treatment.<br />
What then was I to do for Ramdas He was just eight years old. I asked him if he<br />
would mind my dressing his wound. With a smile he said he did not mind at all.<br />
It was not possible for him at that age to decide what was the best thing for<br />
him, but he knew very well the distinction between quackery and proper<br />
medical treatment. And he knew my habit of home treatment and had faith<br />
enough to trust himself to me. In fear and trembling I undid the bandage,<br />
washed the wound, applied a clean earth poultice and tied the arm up again.<br />
This sort of dressing went on daily for about a month until the wound was<br />
completely healed. There was no hitch, and the wound took no more time to<br />
heal than the ship's doctor had said it would under the usual treatment.<br />
This and other experiments enhanced my faith in such household remedies, and<br />
I now proceeded with them with more self-confidence. I widened the sphere of<br />
their application, trying the earth and water and fasting treatment in cases of<br />
wounds, fevers, dyspepsia, jaundice and other complaints, with success on<br />
most occasions. But nowadays I have not the confidence I had in South Africa,<br />
and experience has even shown that these experiments involve obvious risks.<br />
The reference here, therefore, to these experiments is not meant to<br />
demonstrate their success. I cannot claim complete success for any<br />
experiment. Even medical men can make no such claims for their experiments.<br />
My object is only to show that he who would go in for novel experiments must<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 28
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
begin with himself. That leads to a quicker discovery of truth, and God always<br />
protects honest experimenter.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 375 8c 376<br />
5. HAEMORRHAGE<br />
Now it happened that Kasturba, who had a brief respite, after her operation,<br />
had again begun getting haemorrhage, and the malady seemed to be obstinate.<br />
Hydropathic treatment by itself did not answer. She had not much faith in my<br />
remedies, though she did not resist them. She certainly did not ask for outside<br />
help. So when all my remedies had failed, I entreated her to give up salt and<br />
pulse. She would not agree, however much I pleaded with her, supporting<br />
myself with authorities. At last she challenged me, saying that even I could not<br />
give up these articles if I was advised to do so. I was pained and equally<br />
delighted, —delighted in that I got an opportunity to shower my love on her. I<br />
said to her: 'You are mistaken. If I was ailing and the doctor advised me to give<br />
up these or any other articles, I should unhesitatingly do so. But there! Without<br />
any medical advice, I give up salt and pulses for one year, whether you do so or<br />
not.'<br />
She was rudely shocked and exclaimed, in deep sorrow: 'Pray forgive me.<br />
Knowing you, I should not have provoked you. I promise to abstain from these<br />
things, but for heaven's sake take back your vow. This is too hard on me.'<br />
'It is very good for you to forego these articles. I have not the slightest doubt<br />
that you will be all the better without them. As for me, I cannot retract a vow<br />
seriously taken. And it is sure to benefit me, for all restraint, whatever prompts<br />
it, is wholesome for men. You will therefore leave me alone. It will be a test<br />
for me, and moral support to you in carrying out your resolve.'<br />
So she gave me up. 'You are obstinate. You will listen to none', she said, and<br />
sought relief in tears.<br />
After this Kasturba began to pick up quickly—whether as a result of the saltless<br />
and pulseless diet or of the other consequent changes in her food, I cannot say.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 29
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
But she rallied quickly, haemorrhage completely stopped, and I added<br />
somewhat to my reputation as a quack.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 399 & 400<br />
6. PLEURISY<br />
The persistence of the pleurisy (in London) caused some anxiety, but I knew<br />
that the cure lay not in taking medicine internally but in dietetic changes<br />
assisted by external remedies.<br />
I called in Dr. Allinson of vegetarian fame, who treated diseases by dietetic<br />
modifications and whom I had met in 1890. He thoroughly overhauled me. I<br />
explained to him how I had pledged myself not to take milk. He cheered me up<br />
and said: 'You need not take milk. In fact I want you to do without any fat for<br />
some days.' He then advised me to live on plain brown bread, raw vegetables<br />
such as beet, radish, onion, and other tubers and greens, and also fresh fruit,<br />
mainly oranges. The vegetables were not to be cooked but merely grated fine,<br />
if I could not masticate them.<br />
I adopted this for about three days, but raw vegetables did not quite suit me.<br />
My body was not in a condition to enable me to do full justice to the<br />
experiment. I was nervous about taking raw vegetables.<br />
Dr. Allinson also advised me to keep all the windows of my room open for the<br />
whole twenty-four hours, bathe in tepid water, have an oil massage on the<br />
affected parts and a walk in the open for fifteen to thirty minutes. I liked all<br />
these suggestions.<br />
My room had French windows which, if kept wide open, would let in the rain.<br />
The fanlight could not be opened. I therefore got the glass broken, so as to let<br />
in fresh air, and I partially opened the windows in a manner not to let in rain.<br />
All these measures somewhat improved my health, but did not completely cure<br />
me.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 30
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Dr. Allinson, when he next called, relaxed his restrictions and permitted me to<br />
have groundnut butter or olive oil for the sake of fat, and to take the<br />
vegetables cooked, if I chose, with rice. These changes were quite welcome,<br />
but they were far from giving me a complete cure. Very careful nursing was<br />
still necessary, and I was obliged to keep mostly in bed.<br />
Whilst things were going on in this way, Mr. Roberts one day came to see me<br />
and urged me very strongly to go home. 'You cannot possibly go to Netley in this<br />
condition. There is still severe cold ahead of us. I would strongly advise you to<br />
get back to India, for it is only there that you can be completely <strong>Cure</strong>d.'<br />
I accepted his advice and began to make preparations for returning to India.<br />
Dr. Jivraj Mehta had bandaged my ribs with 'Mede's Plaster' and had asked me<br />
not to remove it till we reached the Red Sea. For two days I put up with the<br />
discomfort, but finally it became too much for me. It was with considerable<br />
difficulty that I managed to undo the plaster and regain the liberty of having a<br />
proper wash and bath.<br />
My diet consisted mostly of nuts and fruits. I found that I was improving every<br />
day and felt very much better by the time we entered the Suez Canal. I was<br />
weak, but felt entirely out of danger, and I gradually went on increasing my<br />
exercise. The improvement I attributed largely to the pure air of the temperate<br />
zone.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 438 to 442<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 31
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
7. NEAR DEATH'S DOOR<br />
I very nearly ruined my constitution during the recruiting campaign. In those<br />
days my food principally consisted of groundnut butter and lemons. I knew that<br />
it was possible to eat too much butter and injure one's health, and yet I<br />
allowed myself to do so. This gave me a slight attack of dysentery. I did not<br />
take serious notice of this, and went that evening to the Ashram, as was my<br />
wont every now and then. I scarcely took any medicine those days. I thought I<br />
should get well if I skipped a meal, and indeed I felt fairly free from trouble as<br />
I omitted the morning meal the next day. I knew, however, that to be entirely<br />
free I must prolong my fast and, if I ate anything at all, I should have nothing<br />
but fruit juices.<br />
There was some festival that day, and although I had told Kasturba that I should<br />
have nothing for my midday meal, she tempted me and I succumbed. As I was<br />
under a vow of taking no milk or milk products, she had specially prepared for<br />
me a sweet wheaten porridge with oil added to it instead of ghee. She had<br />
reserved too a bowlful of mung for me. I was fond of these things, and I readily<br />
took them, hoping that without coming to grief I should eat just enough to<br />
please Kasturba and to satisfy my palate. But the devil had been only waiting<br />
for an opportunity. Instead of eating very little I had my fill of the meal. This<br />
was sufficient invitation to the angel of death. Within an hour the dysentery<br />
appeared in acute form.<br />
All the friends surrounded me deeply concerned. They were all love and<br />
attention, but they could not relieve my pain. And my obstinacy added to their<br />
helplessness. I refused all medical aid. I would take no medicine, but preferred<br />
to suffer the penalty for my folly. So they looked on in helpless dismay. I must<br />
have had thirty to forty motions in twenty- four hours. I fasted, not taking even<br />
fruit juices in the beginning. The appetite had all gone. I had thought all along<br />
that I had an iron frame, but I found that my body had now become a lump of<br />
clay. It had lost all power of resistance. The motions still continued, leaving me<br />
completely exhausted. The exhaustion brought on a delirious fever. The friends<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 32
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
got more nervous, and called in more doctors. But what could they do with a<br />
patient who would not listen to them<br />
I had now been trying hydropathy which gave some relief, but it was a hard job<br />
to build up the body. The many medical advisers overwhelmed me with advice,<br />
but I could not persuade myself to take anything. One night, I gave myself up to<br />
despair. I felt that I was at death's door.<br />
Whilst I lay thus ever expectant of death, Dr. Talvalkar came one day with a<br />
strange creature. He hailed from Maharashtra. He was not known to fame, but<br />
the moment I saw him I found that he was a crank like myself. He had come to<br />
try his treatment on me. He swears by the ice treatment, which he wanted to<br />
try on me. We gave him the name of 'Ice Doctor'. He is quite confident that he<br />
has discovered certain things which have escaped qualified doctors. It is a pity<br />
both for him and me that he has not been able to infect me with his faith in his<br />
system. I believe in his system up to a certain point, but 1 am afraid he has<br />
been hasty in arriving at certain conclusions.<br />
But whatever may be the merits of his discoveries, I allowed him to experiment<br />
on my body. I did not mind external treatment. The treatment consisted in the<br />
application of ice all over the body. Whilst I am unable to endorse his claim<br />
about the effect his treatment had on me, it certainly infused in me a new<br />
hope and a new energy, and the mind naturally reacted on the body. I began to<br />
have an appetite and to have a gentle walk for five to ten minutes. The<br />
improvement was enough to give me interest in public activities.<br />
Autobiography, pp. 551 to 555<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 33
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
IV<br />
NATURE CURE CLINIC<br />
Readers are aware that I have become a co-trustee with Shree Jehangir Patel<br />
and with Dr. Dinshah Mehta in his clinic at Poona. A condition of the Trust is<br />
that from January 1st this year the clinic should become a clinic for the poor<br />
instead of for the rich. My fervent hope is that rich patients will, if they come,<br />
pay to their fullest capacity and yet live in the same wards as the poor. I<br />
believe that by doing so they will derive more benefit from henceforth. Those<br />
unwilling to abide by this condition need not trouble to go to the clinic. This<br />
rule is necessary.<br />
In addition to treatment for their ailments, poor patients will also be taught<br />
how to live healthy lives. It is a common belief today that <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is<br />
expensive, more so than Ayurvedic or allopathic. If this is proved to be true I<br />
shall have to admit failure. But I believe that the opposite is true and my<br />
experience also bears out the belief. It is the duty of a <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> doctor not<br />
only to look after the body but also pay attention to and prescribe for the soul<br />
of a patient. This best prescription for the soul is of course Ramanama (God's<br />
name). I cannot today go into the meaning of and method of applying<br />
Ramanama. I will only say that the poor do not stand in need of much<br />
medicine. They die uncared for as it is. Their ignorance makes them blind to<br />
what <strong>Nature</strong> teaches us. If the Poona experiment succeeds, Dr. Dinshah Mehta's<br />
dream of a <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> University will come true.<br />
Help of India's true <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> doctors is needed in this great work for the<br />
country. There can be no question of making money in it. The need is for those<br />
who are filled with the spirit of service to the poor, and only with a sufficient<br />
number of such doctors can the work progress.<br />
Harijan, 10-2-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 34
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
I feel that I know the method of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> for the villagers of India.<br />
Therefore I should at once have known that <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> for the villagers could<br />
not be attempted in Poona City. But a Trust was made. Very sober Jehangirji<br />
Patel permitted himself to be a co-trustee with Dr. Mehta and me and I<br />
hastened to Poona to run for the poor, Dr. Mehta's erstwhile clinic which was<br />
designed for the rich. I suggested some drastic changes but last Monday the<br />
knowledge dawned upon me that I was a fool to think that I could ever hope to<br />
make an institute for the poor in a town. I realised that if I cared for the ailing<br />
poor, I must go to them and not expect them to come to me. This is true of<br />
ordinary medical treatment. It is much more so of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. How is a<br />
villager coming to Poona to understand and carry out my instructions to apply<br />
mud poultices, take sun cure, hip and friction sitz baths or certain foods cooked<br />
conservatively He would expect me to give him a powder or a potion to<br />
swallow and be done with it. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> connotes a way of life which has to<br />
be learnt; it is not a drug cure as we understand it. The treatment to be<br />
efficacious can, therefore, only take place in or near a man's cottage or house.<br />
It demands from its physician sympathy and patience and knowledge of human<br />
nature. When he has successfully practised in this manner in a village or<br />
villages, when enough men and women have understood the secret of <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong>, a nucleus for a <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> University is founded. It should not have<br />
required eleven days' special stay in the Institute to discover this simple truth<br />
that I did not need a huge building and all its attendant paraphernalia for my<br />
purpose. I do not know whether to laugh or weep over my folly. I laughed at it<br />
and made haste to undo the blunder. This confession completes the reparation.<br />
Harijan, 17-3-'46<br />
Many persons wish to come to Uruli-Kanchan in order to learn <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. The<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> of my conception for the villagers is limited to rendering such aid<br />
as can be given to them through what can be procured in the village. For<br />
example, I would not need either electricity or ice for them.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 35
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Such work can only be for those like me who have become village-minded,<br />
whose heart even while they live in a city is in the village. Therefore, the<br />
Trustees have given over the work entirely to me.<br />
Now to my conception of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. I have from time to time written a little<br />
about it, but as the idea is developing, it will be a good thing to tell something<br />
regarding its limitations in Uruli-Kanchan. Human ailments, whether of village<br />
or town, are of three kinds, viz. bodily, mental and spiritual. And what applies<br />
to one individual applies generally to the other and also to society as a whole.<br />
The majority of the inhabitants of Uruli-Kanchan are business folk. Mangs live<br />
on one side of the village. Mahars on another and people of the Kanchan caste<br />
on yet another. The name of the village is derived from this last group. There<br />
are some gypsies living here too, who are termed criminal tribes under the law.<br />
The Mangs earn their living by making ropes etc. They were well off during the<br />
war but have now fallen on bad days and are living from hand to mouth. The<br />
problem that faces the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> doctor is how to deal with the malady of<br />
the Mangs, which is by no means an ailment to be ignored. It is really the duty<br />
of the businessmen in Uruli- Kanchan to stamp out this social disease. No<br />
medicines from any dispensary are going to avail in this case and yet it is no<br />
less poisonous a disease than cholera. Some of the tenements of the Mangs are<br />
fit only for a bonfire. But burning will not provide them with new dwellings.<br />
Where would they put their belongings, where would they seek shelter from<br />
rain and cold These are the difficulties to be overcome and the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
physician cannot be blind to them. What can be done for the criminal tribes<br />
They do not deliberately commit crime for the joy of it. They are victims of an<br />
age-long tradition and therefore labelled criminals. It becomes the duty of the<br />
residents of Uruli-Kanchan to free them from the evil habit. The <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
man may not neglect this work. Such problems will continually face him. Thus<br />
on reflection we can see that the field of work for him is very wide and that it<br />
is work for true Swaraj. It can succeed through God's grace, only if all the<br />
workers and residents of Uruli-Kanchan are true and determined to reach the<br />
goal.<br />
Harijan, ll-8-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 36
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
V<br />
RAMANAMA AND NATURE CURE<br />
During part of his illness my father was in Porbandar. There every evening he<br />
used to listen to the Ramayana. The reader was a great devotee of Rama —<br />
Ladha Maharaj of Bileshwar. It was said of him that he cured himself of his<br />
leprosy not by any medicine, but by applying to the affected parts bilva which<br />
had been cast away after being offered to the image of Mahadeva in Bileshwar<br />
temple, and by regular repetition of Ramanama. His faith, it was said, had<br />
made him whole. This may or may not be true. We, at any rate, believed the<br />
story. And it is a fact that when Ladha Maharaj began his reading of the<br />
Ramayana his body was entirely free from leprosy.<br />
Autobiography, p. 48<br />
Perhaps I am right in saying that the potency of Ramanama was brought vividly<br />
home to me in Uruli-Kanchan. It was there that I asserted that the surest<br />
remedy for all our ills was Ramanama. He who can make full use of it can show<br />
powerful results with very little outside effort.<br />
Harijan, 22-6-'47<br />
There is no connection between Ramanama of my conception and jantar<br />
mantar (charms). I have said that to take Ramanama from the heart means<br />
deriving help from an incomparable power. The atom bomb is as nothing<br />
compared with it. This power is capable of removing all pain. It must, however,<br />
be admitted that it is easy to say that Ramanama must come from the heart,<br />
but to attain the reality is very difficult. Nevertheless, it is the biggest thing<br />
man can possess.<br />
Harijan, 13-10-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 37
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
My conception of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>, like everything else, has undergone a<br />
progressive evolution. And for years I have believed that if a person is filled<br />
with the presence of God and has thus attained the state of dispassion, he can<br />
surmount handicaps against long life. I have come to the conclusion, based on<br />
observation and scriptural reading, that when a man comes to that complete<br />
living faith in the Unseen Power and has become free from passion, the body<br />
undergoes internal transformation. This does not come about by mere wish. It<br />
needs constant vigilance and practice. In spite of both, unless God's grace<br />
descends upon one, human effort comes to naught.<br />
Press Report, 12-6-'45<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> treatment means that treatment which befits man. By "man" is<br />
meant not merely man as an animal, but as a creature possessing, in addition<br />
to his body, both mind and soul, tor such a being Ramanama is the truest<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> treatment. It is an unfailing remedy. The expression Rama- bana or<br />
infallible cure is derived from it. <strong>Nature</strong>, too, indicates that for man it is the<br />
worthy remedy. No matter what the ailment from which a man may be<br />
suffering, recitation of Ramanama from the heart is the sure cure. God has<br />
many names. Each person can choose the name that appeals most to him.<br />
Ishwara, Allah, Khuda, God mean the same. But the recitation must not be<br />
parrot-like, it must be born of faith of which endeavour will be some evidence.<br />
What should the endeavour consist of Man should seek out and be content to<br />
confine the means of cure to the five elements of which the body is composed,<br />
i.e., earth, water, akash, sun and air. Of course, Ramanama must be the<br />
invariable accompaniment. If in spite of this, death supervenes, we may not<br />
mind. On the contrary, it should be welcomed. Science has not so far discovered<br />
any recipe for making the body immortal. Immortality is an attribute of<br />
the soul. That is certainly imperishable, but it is man's duty to try to express its<br />
purity.<br />
If we accept the above reasoning, it will automatically limit the means<br />
permissible under <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. And man is thereby saved from all the<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 38
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
paraphernalia of big hospitals, eminent doctors etc. The large majority of<br />
persons in the world can never afford these. Why, then, should the few desire<br />
what the many cannot have<br />
Harijan, 3-3-'46<br />
Shri Ganeshshastri Joshi, vaidya, tells me after reading the above article, that<br />
in Ayurveda, too, there is ample testimony to the efficacy of Ramanama as a<br />
cure for all disease. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> occupies the place of honour and in it<br />
Ramanama is the most important. When Charaka, Vagbhata and other giants of<br />
medicine in ancient India wrote, the popular name for God was not Rama but<br />
Vishnu. I myself have been a devotee *of Tulsidas from my childhood and have,<br />
therefore, always worshipped God as Rama. But I know that if, beginning with<br />
Omkar, one goes through the entire gamut of God's names current in all climes,<br />
all countries and all languages, the result is the same. He and His Law are one.<br />
To observe His Law is, therefore, the best form of worship. A man who becomes<br />
one with Law does not stand in need of vocal recitation of the name. In other<br />
words, an individual with whom contemplation on God has become as natural as<br />
breathing, is so filled with God's spirit that knowledge or observance of the Law<br />
becomes second nature, as it were, with him. Such an one needs no other<br />
treatment.<br />
The question, then, arises as to why, in spite of having the prince of remedies<br />
at hand, we know so little about it; and why even those who know, do not<br />
remember Him or remember Him only by lip-service, not from the heart.<br />
Parrot-like repetition of God's name signifies failure to recognize Him as the<br />
panacea for all ills.<br />
How can they This sovereign remedy is not administered by doctors, vaidyas,<br />
hakims or any other medical practitioners. These have no faith in it. If they<br />
were to admit that the spring of the Holy Ganga could be found in every home,<br />
their very occupation or means of livelihood would go. Therefore, they must<br />
perforce rely on their powder and potions as infallible remedies. Not only do<br />
these provide bread for the doctor, but the patient, too, seems to feel<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 39
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
immediate relief. If a medical practitioner can get a few persons to say: "So<br />
and so gave me a powder and I was cured," his business is established.<br />
Nor, it must be borne in mind, would it really be of any use for doctors to<br />
prescribe God's name to patients unless they themselves were conscious of its<br />
miraculous powers. Ramanama is no copy-book maxim. It is something that has<br />
to be realized through experience. One who has had personal experience alone<br />
can prescribe it, not any other.<br />
The Vaidyaraj has copied out for me four verses. Out of these, Charaka's is the<br />
simplest and most apt. It means that if one were to obtain mastery over even<br />
one out of the thousand names of Vishnu, all ailments would vanish.*<br />
Harijan, 24-3-'46<br />
A noted Ayurvedic physician told me the other day: "All my life I have been<br />
administering drugs. But since you have prescribed Ramanama as a cure for<br />
physical ailments it has occurred to me that what you say has, too, the<br />
authority of Vagbhata and Charaka." The recitation of Ramanama as a remedy<br />
for spiritual ailments is as old as the hills. But the greater includes the less. And<br />
my claim is that the recitation of Ramanama is a sovereign remedy for our<br />
physical ailments also. A <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> man would not tell the patient: 'Invite me<br />
and I shall cure you of your ailment.' He will only tell about the all-healing<br />
principle that is in every being, and how can one cure oneself by evoking it and<br />
making it an active force in his life. If India could realize the power of that<br />
principle, not only would we be free but we would be a land of healthy<br />
individuals too —not the land of epidemics and ill- health that we are today.<br />
The potency of Ramanama is, however, subject to certain conditions and<br />
limitations. Ramanama is not like black magic. If someone suffers from surfeit<br />
and wants to be cured of its after-effects so that he can again indulge himself<br />
at the table, Ramanama is not for him. Ramanama can be used only for a good,<br />
never for an evil end, or else thieves and robbers would be the greatest<br />
devotees. Ramanama is for the pure in heart and for those who want to attain<br />
purity and remain pure. It can never be a means for self-indulgence. The<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 40
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
remedy for surfeit is fasting, not prayer. Prayer can come in only when fasting<br />
has done its work. It can make fasting easy and bearable. Similarly, the taking<br />
of Ramanama will be a meaningless farce when at the same time you are<br />
drugging your system with medicines. A doctor who uses his talent to pander to<br />
the vices of his patient degrades himself and his patient.* What worse<br />
degradation can there be for man than that instead of regarding his body as an<br />
instrument of worshipping his Maker, he should make it the object of adoration<br />
and waste money like water to keep it going anyhow Ramanama, on the other<br />
hand, purifies while it cures, and, therefore, it elevates. Therein lies its use as<br />
well as its limitation.<br />
Harijan, 7-4-'46<br />
I have no doubt whatsoever that the spread of Ramanama and pure living are<br />
the best and cheapest preventives of disease. The tragedy is that doctors,<br />
hakims and viadyas do not make use of Ramanama as the sovereign of cures.<br />
There is no place given to it in current Ayurvedic literature, except it be in the<br />
shape of a charm which will drive people further into the well of superstition.<br />
Ramanama has, in fact, no connection with superstition. It is <strong>Nature</strong>'s supreme<br />
law. Whoever observes it, is free from disease and vice versa. The same law<br />
which keeps one free from disease, applies also to its cure. An apt question is<br />
as to why a man who recites Ramanama regularly and leads a pure life should<br />
ever fall ill. Man is by nature imperfect. A thoughtful man strives after perfection,<br />
but never attains it. He stumbles on the way, however, unwittingly. The<br />
whole of God's law is embodied in a pure life. The first thing is to realize one's<br />
limitations. It should be obvious that the moment one transgresses those limits,<br />
one falls ill. Thus, a balanced diet eaten in accordance with needs gives one<br />
freedom from disease. How is one to know what is the proper diet for one<br />
Many such enigmas can be imagined. The purport of it all is that everyone<br />
should be his own doctor and find out his limitations. The man who does so will<br />
surely live up to 125.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 41
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Doctor friends claim that they do nothing more than investigating the laws and<br />
act accordingly and that, therefore, they are the best <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> men.<br />
Everything can be explained away in this manner. All I want to say is that<br />
anything more than Ramanama is really contrary to true <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. The more<br />
one recedes from this central principle, the farther away one goes from <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong>. Following this line of thought, I limit <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> to the use of the five<br />
elements. But a vaidya who goes beyond this and uses such herbs, as grow or<br />
can be grown in his neighbourhood, purely for service of the sick and not for<br />
money, may claim to be a <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> man. But where are such vaidyas to be<br />
found Today most of them are engaged in making money. They do no research<br />
work and it is because of their greed and mental laziness that the science of<br />
Ayurveda is at a low ebb.<br />
Harijan, 19-5-'46<br />
<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji presented Ramanama to the village folk assembled at Uruli-Kanchan as<br />
a natural Therapeutic No.l for the cure of bodily ailments: "In the song that we<br />
have just sung the devotee says: 'O Hari, you are the reliever of the people's<br />
distress.' The promise here is universal. It is not qualified or restricted to any<br />
particular kind of ailment." He told them of the conditions of success. The<br />
efficacy of Ramanama would depend on whether it was or was not backed by a<br />
living faith. "If you are subject to anger, eat and sleep for indulgence, not<br />
solely for sustenance, you do not know the meaning of Ramanama. Your<br />
recitation of it is mere lip-service. Ramanama, to be efficacious, must absorb<br />
your entire being during its recitation and express itself in your whole life."<br />
Patients began to come in from the next morning. There were about thirty of<br />
them. <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji examined five or six of them and prescribed for them all, more<br />
or less, the same treatment with slight variations, according to the nature of<br />
each case, i.e. recitation of Ramanama, sun-bath, friction and hip baths, a<br />
simple eliminative diet of milk, buttermilk, fruit and fruit juices with plenty of<br />
clean, fresh water to drink. "It has truly been observed," he explained at the<br />
evening prayer gathering, "that all mental and physical ailments are due to one<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 42
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
common cause. It is, therefore, but natural that there should be a common<br />
remedy for them, too. There is a unity of cure, as there is in disease. The<br />
Shastras say so. Therefore, I prescribed Ramanama and almost the same<br />
treatment for all the patients who came to me this morning. But we have a<br />
knack of explaining away the Shastras in life, when they do not suit our<br />
convenience. We have deluded ourselves into the belief that the Shastras are<br />
meant only for the benefit of the soul in the life to come, that the end of<br />
dharma is*to acquire merit after death. I do not share that view. If dharma has<br />
no practical use in this life, it has none for me in the next.<br />
"There is hardly anyone in this world who is completely free from ailment<br />
whether bodily or mental. For some of these, there is no earthly cure. For<br />
instance, Ramanama cannot perform the miracle of restoring to you a lost limb.<br />
But it can perform the still greater miracle of helping you to enjoy an ineffable<br />
peace* in spite of the loss while you live, and rob death of its sting and the<br />
grave its victory at the journey's end. Since death must come soon or late to<br />
everyone, why should one worry over the time"<br />
He then proceeded to give them his first discourse on <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> principles.<br />
The following is its gist:<br />
"Man's physical body is composed of the five natural elements. The most<br />
essential of these is air. Man can live without food for several weeks, without<br />
water for some time, but without air he cannot live for more than a few<br />
minutes. God has, therefore, made air universally available. Shortages of food<br />
or water there may be at times, but of air never. In spite of it, we foolishly<br />
deprive ourselves of God's blessing of fresh and pure air by sleeping within<br />
doors, with doors and windows shut. One may shut the doors and windows if he<br />
is afraid of thieves at night. But why should one shut oneself up<br />
"To get fresh air, one must sleep in the open. But it is not good sleeping in the<br />
open only to breathe dust and dirt-laden air. The place where you sleep must<br />
be free from both. Some people cover their faces as protection against dust<br />
and coal. It is a remedy worse than the disease. Then, there is the evil habit of<br />
breathing through the mouth. Mouth is the organ of ingestion. It is not the<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 43
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
organ of breathing. The air passing through the nasal passages is filtered and<br />
purified and at the same time warmed up before it enters the lungs.<br />
"Anyone who fouls the air by spitting about carelessly, throwing refuse and<br />
rubbish or otherwise dirtying the ground, sins against man and <strong>Nature</strong>. Man's<br />
body is the temple of God. Anyone who fouls the air that is to enter that<br />
temple desecrates it. He takes the name of Rama in vain."<br />
Harijan, 7-4-'46<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> consists of two parts. Firstly, to cure diseases by taking the name<br />
of God or Ramanama; and secondly, to prevent illness by the inculcation of<br />
right and hygienic living. The report from the village says that the inhabitants<br />
are cooperating with them in keeping the village clean. I hold that where the<br />
rules of personal, domestic and public sanitation are strictly observed and due<br />
care is taken in the matter of diet and exercise, there should be no occasion for<br />
illness or disease. Where there is absolute purity, inner and outer, illness<br />
becomes impossible. If the village people could but understand this, they would<br />
not need doctors, hakims or vaidyas.<br />
In Kanchangaon, there are hardly any cows. That is unfortunate. There are<br />
some she-buffaloes. But all the evidence that has come to me so far shows that<br />
buffalo's milk is no match for cow's in the health-giving quality. The vaidyas<br />
specially recommend cow's milk for patients. Milk is an absolute necessity for<br />
health.<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> implies an ideal mode of life and that, in its turn presupposes ideal<br />
living conditions in towns and villages. The name of God is, of course, the hub<br />
round which the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> system revolves.<br />
Harijan, 26-5-'46<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> means a change for the better in one's outlook on life itself. It<br />
means regulation of one's life in accordance with the laws of health. It is not a<br />
matter of taking free medicine from the hospital or for fees. A man who takes<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 44
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
free treatment from the hospital accepts charity. The man who accepts <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong> never begs. Self-help enhances self- respect. He takes steps to cure<br />
himself by eliminating poisons from the system and takes precautions against<br />
falling ill in the future.<br />
The central feature of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> treatment is Ramanama. But it must come<br />
from the heart. Right diet and balanced diet are also necessary. Today our<br />
villages are as bankrupt as we are ourselves. To produce enough vegetables,<br />
fruits and milk in the villages, is an essential part of the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> scheme.<br />
Time spent on this should not be considered a waste. It is bound to benefit all<br />
the villagers and ultimately the whole of India.<br />
Harijan, 2-6-'46<br />
My <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is designed solely for villagers and villages. Therefore, there is<br />
no place in it for the microscope, X-rays and similar things. Nor is there room in<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> for medicines, such as quinine, emetin and penicillin. Personal<br />
hygiene and healthy living are of primary importance. And these should suffice.<br />
If everyone could achieve perfection in this art, there could be no disease. And,<br />
while obeying all the laws of <strong>Nature</strong> in order to cure illness, if it does come,<br />
the sovereign remedy ever lies in Ramanama. But this cure through Ramanama<br />
cannot become universal in the twinkling of an eye. To carry conviction to the<br />
patient, the physician has to be a living embodiment of the power of<br />
Ramanama.<br />
Harijan, ll-8-'46<br />
The tendency of looking to the West in order to make progress in whatever we<br />
do, should be checked. If we have to go to the West to learn <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>, it<br />
cannot be of much use to India. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is a thing which everyone can<br />
practise in the home. The advice of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> experts should not be<br />
necessary for all time. It is such a simple thing that everyone can learn it.<br />
Ramanama is the very foundation of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> of my conception. Nor should<br />
it be necessary to go across the seas in order to learn the use of earth, water,<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 45
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
ether, sun and air. This is self-evident. Whatever other knowledge is required<br />
in this direction can be had in our villages. For instance, if herbs are used, they<br />
must be village herbs. Ayurveda teachers know all about them. If some<br />
Ayurvedic physicians are scoundrels, they cannot become good men and<br />
servants of the people by going abroad. The knowledge of anatomy and<br />
physiology has come from the West. It is very useful and necessary for all<br />
physicians. But there are plenty of means of learning it in our own country. In<br />
short, whatever useful contribution to knowledge has been made by the West,<br />
it has reached everywhere and can be learnt everywhere. I might add here that<br />
the knowledge of anatomy and physiology is not essential for learning <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong>.<br />
The writings of Kuhne, just and Father Kneip, are simple, popular and useful for<br />
all. It is our duty to read them. Practically every <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> physician knows<br />
something about them. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> has not been taken to the villages so far.<br />
We have not thought deeply and no one has thought of it in terms of the<br />
millions. This is just the beginning. No one can say where we shall stand in the<br />
end. As in all great and good enterprises, sacrifice and dedication are required<br />
to make this successful. Instead of looking up to the West, we should turn the<br />
search-light inwards.<br />
Harijan, 2-6-'46<br />
Here is fine banter from a friend:<br />
"I wonder whether this <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> has any close relation to what is being<br />
called Faith <strong>Cure</strong>. Of course, one should have faith in treatment. But there are<br />
some exclusive faith cures, for example, for smallpox, stomach pain, etc. For<br />
smallpox, as you might know, especially in the South, no treatment is given but<br />
it is considered Divine Play. We do poojas to Goddess Mariamma and it is almost<br />
miraculous to see most of the cases come out successful. For stomach pain,<br />
even chronic cases, many make vows before the deity at Thirupathi: and<br />
finding themselves cured, fulfil their ablutions and other obligations. To give<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 46
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
you a fitting example, my mother had the same pain and after her visit to<br />
Thirupathi, she is now free from the disease.<br />
"Will you kindfy enlighten me on this, and may I ask why people should not have<br />
such faith in <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> also and save the recurring expenditure to the doctors<br />
who, as Chaucer said, maintain a fin'e conspiracy with the apothecary to keep a<br />
patient always a patient, which is part of the natural order of things"<br />
The examples that have been quoted are neither <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> nor yet<br />
Ramanama which I have included in it. But they do show how <strong>Nature</strong> cures<br />
without any treatment in many cases. They are undoubtedly cases which show<br />
the part superstition plays in Indian life. Ramanama, which is the centre of<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is the enemy of superstition. Unscrupulous men will abuse<br />
Ramanama as they will any other thing or system. Mere lip-recitation of<br />
Ramanama has nothing to do with cure. Faith <strong>Cure</strong>, if I know it correctly, is<br />
blind cure such as the friend describes and thereby ridicules the living name of<br />
the living God. The latter is not a figment of one's imagination. It has to come<br />
from the heart. It is conscious belief in God and a knowledge of His Law that<br />
make perfect cure possible without any further aid. That Law is that a perfect<br />
mind is responsible for perfect health of the body. A perfect mind comes from a<br />
perfect heart, not the heart known by a doctor's stethoscope, but the heart<br />
which is the seat of God. It is claimed that realization of God in the heart<br />
makes it impossible for an impure or an idle thought to cross the mind. Disease<br />
is impossible where there is purity of thought. Such a state may be difficult to<br />
attain. But the first step in the ascent to health is taken with its recognition.<br />
The next is taken when the corresponding attempt is made. This radical<br />
alteration in one's life is naturally accompanied by the observance of all other<br />
<strong>Nature</strong>'s laws hitherto discovered by man. One cannot play with them and claim<br />
to have a pure heart. It can be said with justice that possession of a pure heart<br />
should do equally well without Ramanama. Only, I know no other way of<br />
attaining purity. And it is the way trodden by the sages of old all over the<br />
world. They were men of God, not superstitious men or charlatans.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 47
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
If this is Christian Science, I have no quarrel with it. The way of Ramanama is<br />
not my discovery. It is probably much older than the Christian era.<br />
A correspondent questions whether Ramanama avoids bonafide surgical<br />
operations. Of course, it does not. It cannot restore a leg that is cut off in an<br />
accident. In many cases surgical operations are unnecessary. Where they are<br />
required, they should be performed. But a man of God will not worry if a limb<br />
is lost. Recitation of Ramanama is neither an empirical method nor a makeshift.<br />
Harijan, 9-6-'46<br />
A friend writes:<br />
"Regarding your suggested cure of malaria by Ramanama, my problem is that I<br />
do not understand how to rely on a spiritual force for my physical ailments. I<br />
am also not sure if I deserve to be cured and if 1 am justified in praying for my<br />
salvation, when there is so much misery amongst my countrymen. The day I<br />
understand Ramanama, I shall pray for their salvation. Otherwise, 1 would feel<br />
more selfish than I do today."<br />
This is from a friend whom I believe to be an earnest seeker of truth. I take<br />
public notice of his difficulty, as it is typical of that of many like him.<br />
Spiritual force is like any other force at the service of man. Apart from the fact<br />
that it has been used for physical ailments for ages, with more or less success,<br />
it would be intrinsically wrong not to use it, if it can be successfully used for<br />
the cure of physical ailments. For, man is both matter and spirit, each acting<br />
on and affecting the other. If you get rid of malaria by taking quinine, without<br />
thinking of the millions who do not get it, why should you refuse to use the<br />
remedy which is within you, because millions will not use it through their<br />
ignorance May you not be clean and well because millions of others will not be<br />
so, ignorantly or, may be, even cussedly If you will not be clean out of false<br />
notions of philanthropy, you will deny yourself the duty of serving the very<br />
millions by remaining dirty and ill. Surely refusal to be spiritually well or clean<br />
is worse than the refusal to be physically clean and well.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 48
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Salvation is nothing more and nothing less than being well in every way. Why<br />
should you deny it for yourself, if thereby you show the way to others and<br />
beyond showing it, actually serve them in addition by reason of your fitness<br />
But you are wholly selfish, when you take penicillin in order to get well,<br />
although you have the certain knowledge that the others cannot get it.<br />
The confusion lying behind my correspondent's argument is obvious.<br />
What, however, is true is that the taking of a pill or pills of quinine is much<br />
easier than gaining the knowledge of the use of Ramanama. It involves much<br />
effort as against the mere cost of buying quinine pills. The effort is worth<br />
making for the sake of the millions in whose name and on whose behalf my<br />
correspondent will shut Rama out of his heart.<br />
Harijan, l-9-'46<br />
What is the mark of him who has Rama enthroned in his heart If we do not<br />
know this, there is danger of Ramanama being much misinterpreted. Some<br />
misinterpretation is already in existence. Many sport rosaries and put the<br />
sacred mark on the forehead and vainly babble His name. It may well be asked<br />
whether I am not adding to the current hypocrisy by continued insistence on<br />
Ramanama. I must not be deterred by such forebodings. Silence thus brought<br />
about is harmful. The living voice of silence needs to be backed by prolonged<br />
heartfelt practice. In the absence of such natural silence, we must try to know<br />
the marks of him who has Rama in his heart.<br />
A devotee of Rama may be said to be the same as the steadfast one<br />
(sthitaprajna) of the Gita. If one goes a little deeper it will be seen that a true<br />
devotee of 1 God faithfully obeys the five elemental forces of <strong>Nature</strong>. If he so<br />
obeys, he will not fall ill. If perchance he does, he will cure himself with the<br />
aid of the elements. It is not for the dweller in the body to get the body cured<br />
anyhow—he*who believes that he is nothing but body, will naturally wander to<br />
the ends of the earth in order to cure the body of its ills. But he who realizes<br />
that the soul is something apart from, though in the body, that it is<br />
imperishable in contrast to the perishable body, will not be perturbed nor<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 49
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
mourn if the elements fail. On the contrary he will welcome death as a friend.<br />
He will become his own healer instead of seeking for medical men. He will live<br />
in the consciousness of the soul within and look to the care, first and last, of<br />
the indweller.<br />
Such a man will take God's name with every breath. His Rama will be awake<br />
even whilst the body is asleep. Rama will always be with him in whatever he<br />
does. The real death for such a devoted man will be the loss of this sacred<br />
companionship.<br />
As an aid to keeping his Rama with him, he will take what the five elements<br />
have to give him. That is to say, he will employ the simplest and easiest way of<br />
deriving all the benefits he can from earth, air, water, sunlight and ether. This<br />
aid is not complementary to Ramanama. It is but a means of its realization.<br />
Ramanama does not in fact require any aid. But to claim belief in Ramanama<br />
and at the same time to run to doctors do not go hand in hand.<br />
A friend versed in religious lore who read my remarks on Ramanama sometime<br />
ago wrote to say that Ramanama is an alchemy such as can transform the body.<br />
The conservation of the vital energy has been likened to accumulated wealth,<br />
but it is in the power of Ramanama alone to make it a running stream to everincreasing<br />
spiritual strength ultimately making a fall impossible.<br />
Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless<br />
and pure strength of faith. This strength can renovate the weakness of all man's<br />
physical organs. That is why it is said that when Ramanama is enshrined in the<br />
heart, it means the rebirth of man. This law applies to the young, the old, man<br />
and woman alike.<br />
This belief is to be found in the West too. Christian Sciences give a glimpse of<br />
it. But India needs no outside support for a belief which has been handed down<br />
to her people from time immemorial.<br />
Hariian, 29-6-'47<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 50
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Q. I have been repeating Ramanama according to your advice and I am getting<br />
better. I must add that the medical treatment for tuberculosis is also being<br />
followed. You have said that eating little and eating the right food enables a<br />
man to be healthy and promotes longevity. I have observed the rule about<br />
eating sparely for the last twenty-five years. Why should I have fallen-a prey to<br />
tuberculosis Would you say, I should attribute this ill luck to some evil deed in<br />
this life or in the previous one<br />
You say a man can live up to 125 years. Then, why should God have carried<br />
away Mahadevbhai, who was so useful to you He observed the rule of eating<br />
moderately and having a balanced diet, and he served you as his God. Why did<br />
he fall a prey to high blood-pressure Why did Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who<br />
is looked upon as an incarnation of God, fall a prey to cancer, as deadly a<br />
disease as tuberculosis Why was he not able to fight it successfully<br />
A. I have been expounding the rules of maintaining health as I know them.<br />
Spare and balanced diet may not be the same for everybody. It can be best<br />
worked out by the individual for himself through proper reading and careful<br />
thought. But that does not mean that the individual cannot make mistakes or<br />
that his or her knowledge is complete. That is why life has been called a<br />
laboratory. One should learn from the experience of others and go forward and,<br />
if he is not successful, he should not blame others or even himself. One should<br />
not be too ready to find fault with the rule, but if after careful thought, one<br />
comes to the conclusion that a certain rule is wrong, he should be able to tell<br />
the right one and declare it.<br />
So far as your own case is concerned, there may be several causes leading to<br />
your illness. Who can say whether you have made the right use of the five<br />
'powers'* in your own case So long as I believe in the law of <strong>Nature</strong> as I know<br />
them I have to say that you must have erred somewhere. As for Mahadev and<br />
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to feel that even they must have erred somehow is<br />
fitter than to say that the laws are wrong. These rules are not my creation.<br />
They are the laws of <strong>Nature</strong> according to experienced men. I believe in them<br />
and try to live up to my belief. Man is after all an imperfect creature. How can<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 51
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
he know the whole truth That the allopathic doctors do not believe in them or,<br />
if they do, they do so in a different sense, does not impress me. What I have<br />
said, does not and should not in any way, detract from the greatness of the<br />
individuals mentioned.<br />
Harijan, 4-8-'46<br />
With reference to an Ashram worker who got mentally deranged and became<br />
violent, and so had to be put in confinement, <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji said: "He is a fine<br />
worker. After his recovery last year, he looked after the garden and kept the<br />
hospital accounts. He worked diligently and was happy in his work. Then, he<br />
got malaria and was given a quinine injection because injection works quicker.<br />
He says the injection has gone to his head and is responsible for his mental<br />
affection. While I was working in my room this morning, I found him wandering<br />
to and fro outside, shouting and gesticulating. I went out to him and walked<br />
with him. He was quieted. But the moment I left him, he became<br />
uncontrollable again. He gets violent too, and listens to no one. So, he had to<br />
be sent to jail.<br />
“It has naturally hurt me to think that one of our workers should be sent to jail.<br />
I may be asked: ‘What about your Ramanama which you have claimed to be a<br />
cure-all’ Even in the face of this failure, let me reiterate that my faith remains<br />
intact. Ramanama can never fail. The failure only means a lack in us. We must<br />
seek the cause of failure within us.”<br />
Harijan, 1-9-'46<br />
*We want healers of souls rather than of bodies. The multiplicity of hospitals and medical<br />
men is no sign of civilization. The less we and others pamper our body, the better for us<br />
and the world.<br />
Young India, 29-9-27<br />
There is no grater spell-binder of peace than the name of God. —<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji, Press Report,<br />
10-l-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 52
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
FROM AFTER-PRAYER DISCOURSES<br />
<strong>Gandhi</strong>ji in today's discourse explained the conditions under which alone<br />
Ramanama could become an effective remedy. The first condition was that it<br />
should come from the heart.<br />
Ramanama could not come from the heart unless one had cultivated the virtues<br />
of truth, honesty and purity within and without. Every day at the evening<br />
prayers, they repeated the shlokas describing the man with a steadfast<br />
intellect. Every one of them, <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji said, could become a sthitaprajna — man<br />
with steadfast intellect - if he kept his sense under discipline, ate and drank<br />
and allowed himself enjoyment and recreation only to sustain life for service. If<br />
one had no control over one's thoughts, if one did not mind, for instance,<br />
sleeping in a hole of a room with all doors and windows shut, and breathing foul<br />
air or drinking dirty water, his recitation of Ramanama was in vain.<br />
That, however, did not mean that one should give up reciting Ramanama on the<br />
ground that one had not the requisite purity. For, recitation of Ramanama was<br />
also a means of acquiring purity. "In the case of a man who repeats Ramanama<br />
from the heart, discipline and self-control will come easy. Observance of the<br />
rules of health and hygiene will become his second nature. His life will run an<br />
even course. He will never want to hurt anyone. To suffer in order to relieve<br />
other's suffering will become a part of his being and fill him with an ineffable<br />
and perennial joy." Let them, therefore, said <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji, persevere and<br />
ceaselessly repeat Ramanama during all their waking hours. Ultimately, it<br />
would remain with them even during their sleep and God's grace would then fill<br />
them with perfect health of body, mind and spirit.<br />
New Delhi, 25-5-'46<br />
In his after-prayer speech <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji referred to several letters and messages<br />
from friends expressing concern over his persistent cough. His speech was<br />
broadcast and so was the cough which was often troublesome in the evening<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 53
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
and in the open. For the last four days, however, the cough had been on the<br />
whole less troublesome and he hoped it would soon disappear completely. The<br />
reason for the persistence of the cough had been that he had refused all<br />
medical treatment. Dr. Sushila had said that if at the outset he had taken penicillin<br />
he would have been all right in three days. Otherwise, it would take him<br />
three weeks to get over it. He did not doubt the efficacy of penicillin but he<br />
believed too that Ramanama was the sovereign remedy for all ills and,<br />
therefore, superseded all other remedies. In the midst of the flames that<br />
surrounded him on all sides there was all the greater need for a burning faith in<br />
God. God alone could enable people to put down the fire. If He had to take<br />
work from <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji, He would keep him alive, otherwise He would carry him<br />
away.<br />
They had just heard the bhajan in which the poet had exhorted man to stick to<br />
Ramanama. God alone was the refuge of man. Therefore, in the present crisis<br />
he wished to throw himself entirely on God and not accept ipedical aid for a<br />
physical ailment. New Delhi, 18-10-1947<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 54
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY<br />
To fall ill should be a matter of shame for anyone. Illness implies some error or<br />
other. He whose body and mind are perfectly sound, should never suffer from<br />
illness.<br />
Sevagram, 26-12-'44<br />
An evil thought is also an indication of illness. Therefore, we should guard<br />
ourselves against evil thoughts.<br />
Sevagram, 27-12-'44<br />
An infallible remedy for evil thoughts is Ramanama. The name should proceed<br />
not merely from the lips, but from the heart.<br />
Sevagram, 28-12-'44<br />
Diseases are numerous, so also are the physicians and their treatments. If we<br />
regard all diseases as one and consider Rama as one and only physician, we are<br />
freed from most of our troubles.<br />
Sevagram, 29-12-'44<br />
How strange that We should be running after vaidyas and doctors who<br />
themselves die, but quietly forget Rama who is eternal and is an unfailing<br />
vaidya!<br />
Sevagram, 30-12-'44<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 55
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
But more strange than this is the fact that though we Know that we too have to<br />
die one day, and that as a result of doctor's treatment we can at best prolong<br />
our existence by a few days more, we put ourselves to no end of trouble.<br />
Sevagram, 31-12-'44<br />
The young and the old, the rich and the poor—all die before our very eyes. Still<br />
we will not sit at rest but do all that we can, except relying on Rama, just to<br />
live a few days longer.<br />
Sevagram, 1-1-'45<br />
What a fine thing it would be if we understood this and placing our reliance on<br />
Rama patiently put up with whatever ailment came our way and lived in real<br />
peace!<br />
Sevagram, 2-1-'45<br />
If a man regarded as religious is suffering from illness, it means that something<br />
or other is lacking in him.<br />
Sevagram, 22-4-'45<br />
The more I think the more I realize that Ramanama recited from the heart and<br />
with knowledge is a cure-all for every kind of disease.<br />
Uruli, 22-3-'46<br />
The fear of illness accounts for more deaths than the illness itself.<br />
Simla, 7-5-'46<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 56
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> treatment brings us nearer to God. I will have no objection<br />
whatever if we could do even without it. But why be afraid of fast or avoid pure<br />
air The meaning of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is to go nearer <strong>Nature</strong> —God.<br />
From a letter written by <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji, Sevagram, 9-1-'45<br />
APPENDIX A<br />
[Extracts from letters written by <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji during the years 1946 and 1947 to those in<br />
charge of the Uruli-Kanchan Clinic.]<br />
I<br />
Take only as many patients as you can attend to well. Our main object is to<br />
prevent disease. I would regard our treatment as perfect if we could teach the<br />
people there how to keep free from disease. So please explain our viewpoint to<br />
all there — to boys, girls and older folk.<br />
Never mind if no patient turns up. We should visit the houses of the people and<br />
teach them cleanliness. We may also go to schools to teach it. Give every<br />
moment to this work. Cleanliness is the main thing to be taught as it includes<br />
most else.<br />
It is good that your work is proceeding well. It is necessary for one to have<br />
kshetra sannyasa for getting on with the work.<br />
No good work can be done in a day. If it could be accomplished within a day, it<br />
would have little value. We must cultivate patience, and for cultivating<br />
patience, we should develop an attitude of disinterestedness. Where there is<br />
disinterestedness, only good can result out of doing what is good. Such is my<br />
firm faith. Therefore, pray do not bother about results. Just as we are free<br />
from anxiety knowing fully well that the sun will rise tomorrow, similarly we<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 57
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
should be free from anxiety in regard to every good work. There may be a day<br />
when the sun will not rise but there will never come a day when good does not<br />
result out of one's efforts from doing what is good. We should, therefore,<br />
persist in our work in the faith that someday people will come to understand it.<br />
I shall be satisfied with the work at Uruli if it is steady and sound. Never mind if<br />
the progress is slow.<br />
Children should not go without milk. It is certainly desirable to raise a few cows<br />
there.<br />
I doubt if we can do without milk. It is difficult to come to a decision in this<br />
matter without experimenting oneself. You may certainly try it with someone<br />
who can live entirely without milk.<br />
There is no harm if one takes ghee and milk along with purnanna. If one gets on<br />
without milk, that is a different matter, and a great achievement, but I am<br />
afraid that it is not possible.<br />
I very much like the idea of purnanna. I myself want to try it If I succeed, I can<br />
free myself from great bother. But I am sorry I have not been able still to make<br />
the experiment.<br />
Rather than gruel in the morning it is perhaps better to take homemade biscuits<br />
which require to be chewed, and fruits. You may have milk immediately after<br />
that or in the afternoon. But this is only a suggestion.<br />
Do you collect and make use of the seeds of the mango fruit or do you throw<br />
them away<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 58
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Does Dr.Bhagwat carry on experiments in diet Here the water is unwholesome.<br />
Can he suggest a simple means of purifying it<br />
I do not see any harm in providing the latrines with good septic tanks. Only you<br />
must realize that if they are not properly constructed or if they are not<br />
satisfactorily looked after, they will prove dangerous.<br />
If the tub in which a diseased person has taken his bath is disinfected with<br />
ashes hot as cinders, the tub becomes fit for use by others, howsoever<br />
contagious the disease may have been. I myself would not mind bathing in such<br />
a tub.<br />
In the absence of planks you may have thick bamboos tied together, they will<br />
serve as planks to step on. This will be very cheap and will do as a bridge. Pits<br />
without such planks or bamboos are useless. One can use even old iron rails in<br />
the place of planks.<br />
It is not proper if the land has been registered in my name. I do not mind if I<br />
am declared as one of the trustees of the land If the land is registered in my<br />
name, and I expire, it will create complications. In such a contingency, you may<br />
make use of this letter and have all disputes arising out of it cleared. You may<br />
then state, that the land is not mine personally, but that it is meant to be<br />
utilized for the preservation of the health of the poor inhabitants of Uruli-<br />
Kanchan and for all other projects arising out of it.<br />
It does not matter, if the Trust is drawn up as a part of the Poona Trust, nor<br />
does it matter if it is an independent Trust. If it is drawn up as a sub-Trust,<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 59
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
local people must have a place in it, and we must also gather beforehand their<br />
views in the matter.<br />
Cow-activities cannot be included in the Trust. You can do cow-work through<br />
the Goseva-Sangh* Else the work you are engaged in will come to naught. By<br />
attempting too much both the activities are likely to suffer. Or if someone<br />
there knows about cows, carry on the work in consultation with him. You should<br />
try and make the Arogyabhavan (Health Home) self- supporting. The shortness<br />
of funds will be set right. It is not necessary to put more men on that task (i.e.<br />
the collection of funds). Once your decisions are known, money can be obtained.<br />
A well is, of course, necessary. Have it dug. You say that a boring-well can<br />
be had for a sum of Rs. 4,000/-. Well, personally I feel inclined to go in for it or<br />
we can follow in this respect the methods of construction of water-wells<br />
adopted by the military and use them in the way they did. I believe we can get<br />
enough water even from their water works. In our scheme for the cows I am<br />
sure the buffalo can have no place. If we do not insist upon having only cows<br />
(i.e. to the exclusion of buffaloes), they are as well as dead and gone and after<br />
them the buffaloes. Experts on animal breeding too are of this opinion.<br />
If you undertake agriculture on behalf of the institution, employing labour on<br />
wages, I believe you will come to grief. Though this is my opinion, I will accept<br />
and consent to whatever you finally decide upon after mutual consultations.<br />
I do not mind your carrying on the agriculture work in partnership with others,<br />
but we cannot lend money for bullocks and such like. We are not capitalowners,<br />
but trustees. Trustees are for a specific purpose only. Our mission is<br />
the encouragement of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. We cannot, therefore, incur such expenses.<br />
We may do (in agriculture) only whatever we can by means of personal labour.<br />
Water is indispensable in every way, expenses on it are justified: only of course<br />
we must make sure that water will be available if it is to be a tube-well. We<br />
may do only that much sowing that we can personally do with our own hands.<br />
We may grow vegetables or fruits required by us, but not grains. Milk is<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 60
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
indispensable, so it is essential that we should maintain some cows. Such<br />
expenses are unavoidable.<br />
I feel it is better that the work (at Uruli) should go on independently (for<br />
whatever happens to the main, i.e. Poona Trust, it is desirable that Uruli work<br />
should continue). Besides, the whole responsibility for the work is on the<br />
shoulders of Manibhai. For this reason also the Trust should be an independent<br />
Trust.<br />
I do not see anything wrong in the work at Purandar also being independent. A<br />
university is all right, but where are the workers There is not even a school<br />
much less a college to teach the science of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. How then can one<br />
expect to have a university Even if you get immersed in the Purandar work, I<br />
do not fear, on that account, any harm to the Trust. If you get fully absorbed in<br />
the work wherever it is and are successful in carrying on <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>, I would<br />
think that it is a part of the Trust work that you are doing. In whatever way you<br />
succeed in the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> treatment, the Trust stands to gain.<br />
You may have, for Uruli, a local Trust, independent of the main (Poona) Trust.<br />
If it is an independent Trust, you are free to carry on, under the rules of the<br />
Trust, village reconstruction activities. These activities may include<br />
agriculture, cow-protection, weaving, oil-pressing, etc. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> should be a<br />
part of the activities. I leave it to the local workers to decide whether the<br />
Trust should be an independent one or a part of the main (Poona) Trust. If you<br />
wish to have it as an independent Trust, you should be prepared to stand on<br />
your own legs and to do all the work with a full sense of responsibility. If it is a<br />
part of the main (Poona) Trust you can act only according to the rules of the<br />
main Trust. In that case you cannot undertake village reconstruction activities.<br />
Agriculture, cow-protection, oil-pressing, etc. if desired to be carried on under<br />
the rules of the Trust, must be made self- supporting. You should be fully<br />
prepared to undertake all this. I would be glad if you could dispense with the<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 61
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
use of the bullock in your activities. The local people should be persuaded to<br />
take up the cow-protection work. Definitely our undertaking should not be on a<br />
capitalist basis. For such activities as agriculture, cow-protection, oil-pressing,<br />
etc., you could engage the services of local people, actuated with a spirit of<br />
service. Members of the families of persons engaged by you should also be<br />
employed. The use of oil-engines is, of course, to be banned.<br />
If local patients do not take advantage of the hospitals, patients from outside<br />
the village may be admitted. But local patients should have the preference and<br />
the expenses for their treatment should be borne by the institution. Outside<br />
patients should pay for treatment.<br />
The treatment for all must be simple. This must be incorporated in the Trust-<br />
Deed. Men or women workers from outside, if willing to work, may do so out of<br />
a spirit of service. No salaries can be given to them. Servants must be procured<br />
locally. They should be given wages. Children from ten to twelve may be<br />
engaged on payment of wages. They should be educated under the Wardha<br />
Scheme. A few workers actuated with a spirit of service should be obtained<br />
from outside. Attempts should be made to train local workers and children.<br />
Patients should be admitted strictly according to the capacity of the<br />
institution. The workers shall have to observe the rules of the Ashram. Easy<br />
rules may be framed for servants.<br />
Hospital equipment should be very simple. It would be much better if they<br />
could be locally made. Pots of kiln-baked earth may be used for tubs. Tubs can<br />
be made even from tin. In place of cots, wooden planks, supported by bricks<br />
may be used. But these are mere suggestions. I believe meat cannot be used in<br />
any treatment. I do not say this from a religious point of view. Kavo can serve<br />
the purpose of tea. Coffee made from wheat flour must be used in the place of<br />
ordinary coffee. Bidi can never be given. It does not matter if patients do not<br />
turn up on account of this handicap. People should be taught in this regard.<br />
Patients suffering from dangerous diseases like tuberculosis should be admitted<br />
only if separate arrangements can be made for them. Honey, without the killing<br />
of bees, (i.e. by means of bee-culture) should be locally obtained. The village-<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 62
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
folk should be taught bee-keeping. You can have bee-rearing in the institution<br />
too. Arrangements should be made for the supply of cow-milk and cow-ghee.<br />
When cow-milk is not available, buffalo-milk or goat-milk may be supplied.<br />
Additional expenditure may be incurred for the preservation of health, if<br />
needed. Every inmate of the Ashram must put in at least seven hours of work. I<br />
do not like the idea of inmates cooking separately for themselves.<br />
Gradually you will be able to draw workers from Uruli itself. It will be a flaw in<br />
your work if you always depended upon workers from outside —it will be a<br />
defect in the work for <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>.<br />
You will not have heavy work if you accept only as many patients as you can<br />
treat. If youngsters come forward, as volunteers, you can train them. You will<br />
require a lady worker from outside; but I am afraid you will not be able to get<br />
one on your own. Let us see how things shape themselves.<br />
I like the idea of your arranging a Primary Teachers' Camp. Your assurance that<br />
it will entail no liability is welcome.<br />
If Premabahen does anything there on behalf of Kasturba Nidhi* it is indeed<br />
excellent; but we cannot shoulder any financial responsibility on that account.<br />
She should therefore do only what is covered by the Kasturba Nidhi.<br />
In the end the village itself should meet all the expenses. If it cannot, it will be<br />
a question whether we can permanently settle there. We cannot encourage<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> in villages by means of outside funds.<br />
I regard this presentation of purse as of slight importance. I require your fullest<br />
co-operation in the great work that we intend to accomplish here —and that<br />
work is the physical, mental and spiritual development of Uruli. This calls for<br />
help from all—young and old, men, women and children of all communities. We<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 63
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
can put an end to our threefold trouble (i.e. physical, mental and spiritual)<br />
only if we give up our communal and sectarian differences. If Uruli-Kanchan can<br />
accomplish this, we may have hope for the seven lakhs of Indian villages.<br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> does not relate to the body only but also to the mind. Ramanama<br />
is the only help in keeping up mental health; and a person desiring to avail<br />
himself of it, should be pure, full of faith and devoted. <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> without<br />
this has absolutely no value for me.<br />
The path of celibacy (brahmacharya) is as magnificent as it is difficult. The<br />
farther a man gets on it, the deeper is the sense of magnificence, purity and<br />
cleanliness that he experiences. I know it is very important for one to know<br />
how to proceed on this path. Thinking much over it I am convinced that<br />
Ramanama (the constant muttering of the name of God with faith) is the best<br />
help. But it must spring from the heart and not be merely muttered by the lips.<br />
Of course ceaseless service of others must accompany it. Eating should be<br />
regarded as merely a necessary fee that we pay to our bodies. It should be<br />
well-balanced. Ramanama is not a substitute for these, but it includes all this.<br />
It is also a mark of one's withdrawing into one's own soul. It is evident that<br />
there can be no celibacy as long as attachment (to worldly affairs) persists.<br />
I am prepared to answer questions on celibacy, but please understand that only<br />
what springs from your own inner self is real and should be followed. The<br />
articles of Vinoba are excellent, but for one who is convinced of the greatness<br />
of celibacy the greatest support is Ramanama; since once the greatness is<br />
acknowledged, it ceases to be a subject of the mind and becomes a matter of<br />
the heart. And the heart is controlled by God as I have always experienced. He<br />
who acknowledges God as his Master cannot afford to waste even a single<br />
moment. If you waver from celibacy even in thought, take it that for that one<br />
moment you have shed vigilance, and the moment has gone waste.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 64
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>, service of the village, and Ashram life are to me three facets of<br />
one homogeneous whole. From the standpoint of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> they are<br />
indivisible. When you attain the highest state in <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>, service to the<br />
village has already been achieved, and I cannot imagine any system of <strong>Nature</strong><br />
<strong>Cure</strong> divorced of the Ashram life.<br />
Do not expect to secure any one from outside with a knowledge of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>.<br />
You should try to gather as much knowledge of it as possible yourself. I would<br />
regard any <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> specialist, unwilling to work within the limits of Ashram<br />
rules, unacceptable to us.<br />
We have no magic wand by means of which we can at once remove from our<br />
midst the evils of drinking or prostitution. But I firmly believe that if we have<br />
force of character, we shall succeed in the end. You should try and find out<br />
what persons are addicted to drinking, and do what you can for them. You<br />
should discover from where they obtain their Liquor. I believe something can be<br />
done if you can trace the mischief- makers and discover what kind of gambling<br />
is going on there, whether there are any houses of prostitution, etc.<br />
According to me <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> is treatment both of the body and the soul. So, if I<br />
succeed in curing the people here (Delhi) of their mental crookedness, it is<br />
bound to have a salutary effect on the Uruli work also. It will be a very fine<br />
example of <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> indeed.<br />
*An association for the protection and welfare of cows.<br />
* Fund collected in memory of Kasturba, the wife of <strong>Mahatma</strong> <strong>Gandhi</strong>, to be utilized for<br />
carrying out schemes for the welfare of women and children, more especially in the<br />
villages.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 65
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
APPENDIX B<br />
REPORT OF THE URULI-KANCHAN CLINIC<br />
The Centre was opened by <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji on the 23rd March 1946. He himself could<br />
give his direct supervision for a week only. Later on this work was entrusted to<br />
me and other co-workers here. The number of patients which was daily<br />
increasing during <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's presence was much reduced after his departure.<br />
The real work of treating patients started from the second week of April and<br />
was going on throughout May and June. The number of patients became smaller<br />
and smaller after the rainy season had started, as the villagers were busy in<br />
their fields and there was some difficulty of communication too.<br />
The total number of patients treated at the Centre was 567. Of these 23 were<br />
treated as indoor patients, on account of their serious condition. One delivery<br />
case of a woman was also successfully treated. Ten minor operations were performed.<br />
Other patients were treated as outdoor patients by giving them<br />
enema, bath, hip bath etc. and were asked to observe certain dietetic<br />
restrictions at home. Out of the above total number of patients about 300<br />
might have taken full treatment till they were completely cured; others left<br />
the treatment, when they found that we gave no medicines, or put restriction<br />
on their diet.<br />
The treatment includes plain water enema, hip bath, simple bath, cold or warm<br />
pack, mud pack along with regulation of diet. The latter includes lemon juice,<br />
honey, oranges and other acid fruits, soaked and germinated beans and nuts,<br />
salads, sweet fruits etc. Cooked food includes bhakri or chapati and vegetables<br />
without salt, chillies and spices, purnanna roti and khichadi are also used at<br />
times. Curds and buttermilk are freely used as one time meal when necessary.<br />
The daily expenditure per patient on an average ranges from 8 annas minimum<br />
to 2 rupees maximum according to the circumstances and the financial<br />
condition of the patient.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 66
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Disease Number Disease Number<br />
Scabies 84 Anaemia 5<br />
Malaria-enlarged<br />
spleen<br />
58 Round Worms 5<br />
Constipation 56 T.B. Lungs 4<br />
Fever (Ordinary) 39 Acid Dyspepsia 4<br />
Otitis Media 34 Piles 4<br />
Wounds 30 Hemiplagia 3<br />
Stomach-ache 24 Obesity 3<br />
Conjunctivitis 19 Pleurisy 2<br />
Inflammation 17 Sprain 2<br />
Tooth Extraction 17 Hemicrania 2<br />
Diarrhoea 15 Mumps 2<br />
Flatulence 13 Gallstone 1<br />
Dyspepsia 13 Delivery 1<br />
Tooth-ache 12 Rheumatism 1<br />
Cough (Bronchitis) 11 Pneumonia 1<br />
Uterine Discharge 10 Biliousness 1<br />
Ringworm 8 Dog-bite not<br />
rabid<br />
1<br />
Abscess 8 Fistulain anus 1<br />
Dysentery 8 Miscellaneous 31<br />
Eczema 7<br />
Headache 5 Total 567<br />
Asthma 5<br />
In our future plan of hospital work we shall have to make some separate<br />
arrangements for a maternity home, and a small surgical theatre. Besides this,<br />
we shall also have to organize go-seva for supplying pure milk to the patients.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 67
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
For this we shall have to erect a cowshed in the near future for which we will<br />
have to undergo an expenditure of about Rs.5,000. I hope we shall get cooperation<br />
from the right sources at the right time.<br />
(An abridgement of Report by Dr. Bhagwat for the period April to September,<br />
1946).<br />
Harijan, 15-12-'46<br />
APPENDIX C<br />
TO NATURE CURE SEEKERS<br />
Dr. A.K. Bhagwat writes from Uruli-Kanchan that since the publication of his six<br />
monthly report, he is flooded with letters from <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> seekers desiring<br />
admission into his clinic. It is necessary, therefore, to inform the public that<br />
the <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> Clinic of Uruli-Kanchan is mainly intended for local residents.<br />
There is no adequate accommodation for local indoor patients even, and so it is<br />
working as an outdoor clinic only. Correspondents are, therefore, requested not<br />
to apply for permission to go to Uruli-Kanchan, or to proceed to that place in<br />
the hope of getting admission.<br />
Those who are interested in Dr.Bhagwat's system can get it from two Marathi<br />
books (price including postage, 10 and 14 annas respectively) and an English<br />
pamphlet (price 7 annas including postage). The order should be sent directly<br />
to Dr. A.K. Bhagwat, Naturopath, Uruli-Kanchan, District Poona, along with the<br />
necessary remittance in postage stamps or money order. No order will be<br />
executed by V.P.P.<br />
Harijan, 12-l-'47<br />
K.G.M.<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 68
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
APPENDIX D<br />
TRAINING AT THE URULI-KANCHAN CLINIC<br />
There is no arrangement yet for giving a regular training in <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong>. But<br />
the Clinic will be prepared to accept a few trainees, at their own cost, if they<br />
would be satisfied with what training they might get while they perform their<br />
duties. Persons desirous of dedicating their lives to this Ashram and leading<br />
Ashram life may also be permitted. There is need for a few of them particularly<br />
ladies.<br />
The <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong> methods employed in this Clinic are limited to the following<br />
items laid down by <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji: Regulation of diet, fast, sun-bath, fomentations,<br />
steam-bath, mud- bandage, massage and non-injurious indigenous herbs.<br />
For further particulars and rules of the Clinic please apply with stamps for reply<br />
to:<br />
MANIBHAI DESAI<br />
Manager, Nisargopachar Ashram,<br />
Uruli-Kanchan (Poona)<br />
Harijan, 23-l-'49<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 69
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
NON-ENGLISH WORDS WITH THEIR MEANINGS<br />
Akash—ether<br />
Angithi—a small coal stove<br />
Ashram — a place of spiritual retirement; <strong>Gandhi</strong>ji's colony of workers<br />
Ayurveda — the science of health or medicine, regarded as a supplement to<br />
Atharvaveda, which is one of the four Vedas or Hindu sacred books<br />
Bapu—father<br />
Bhajan—hymn, prayer in the form of song Bhakri— flat, hard, unleavened bread<br />
Bidi— indigenous cigarettes in which tobacco is wrapped in hand-twisted dry leaves<br />
Bilva —leaf of a sacred tree of that name, Aegles Marmelos or wood-apple<br />
Brahmacharya—chastity<br />
Chapati— flat, unleavened bread<br />
Dharma — law of conduct, duty<br />
Ghi, Ghee—clarified melted butter Go-seva—service of the cow<br />
Go-seva Sangh —an association for the protection and welfare of cows<br />
Hakim— physician following Unani system of medicine<br />
Kavo—a hot beverage made up of water, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, etc.<br />
Khichadi—a preparation of rice mixed with cooked dal or pulse<br />
Kshetra Sannyasa—restriction to a definite field of work to the exclusion of other fields<br />
Lakh—a. hundred thousand<br />
Langoti—a small piece of cloth tied round the private parts<br />
Lota—a. small metal vessel<br />
Mowhra—seed of Mowhra tree, Bassia Latifolia<br />
Mung—a kind of pulse<br />
Neem—a tropical tree, Melia Azaderach<br />
Pooja — ritualistic worship and offering<br />
Purnanna — literally, complete diet; an experiment in which vegetables and two or<br />
three kinds of flour are steamed together possessing complete food values<br />
Purnanna roti—a bread steamed with vegetables in it and possessing complete food<br />
values<br />
Ramanama — name of Rama or God<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 70
<strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Cure</strong><br />
Shastra—scripture; authoritative writing<br />
Shloka—verse<br />
Vaidya—Ayurvedic doctor<br />
www.mkgandhi.org Page 71